EC’s denial of disenfranchising SALL legally incomprehensible – Group

Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the Lead Petitioner of a group seeking to remove the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, has raised serious concerns over the Commission’s alleged disenfranchisement of the residents of Santrokofi, Apkafu, Lolobi, and Lipke (SALL) in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Franklin Cudjoe, the President of IMANI Africa, accused the EC of being responsible for the disenfranchisement of SALL residents, asserting that insufficient efforts were made to ensure their participation in the voting process.

The EC, however, refuted these allegations in a statement issued on Wednesday, May 15, asserting that it did not disenfranchise the residents of the newly formed Guan Constituency at any point.

A statement signed by the Lead Petitioner for the Removal of the Chair and Other Commissioners of the EC described the EC’s version of events as legally incomprehensible.

The Petitioners further criticized the EC for its perceived lack of understanding of the constitutional integrity it is supposed to uphold

“We note that the Commission has presented a set of facts that are not only legally incomprehensible but also manifests a worrying lack of appreciation of the independent mandate and functional integrity that the Constitution sought to bestow on the Commission.

“This was particularly evident in brazen admission that the Electoral Commission considers itself amenable to the direction and control of the President and his appointees rather than the Constitution.”

The group has described the EC’s actions as intentional and negligent, even going so far as to label them “criminal”.

“We are convinced that the actions of the Electoral Commission were either intentional or negligent and thus criminal; or that they were a demonstration of ineptitude, both of which are disqualifying.”

The Petitioners argue that the EC’s decision to prevent eligible voters in the Guan District from participating in the 2020 Parliamentary elections as part of the Buem Constituency was a violation of its own Constitutional Instrument (C.I.).

“The decision of the Electoral Commission to deny the eligible voters of the Guan District to vote in the 2020 Parliamentary elections as part of the Buem Constituency was in direct contravention of C.I. 128, which was made by the Electoral Commission itself,” they argued.

Click to read the statement by the Petitioners

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