The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken steps to challenge the Tarkwa Nsuaem parliamentary election results in the December 2020 election.
The NDC’s Constituency Secretary, George Gadd, together with some party lawyers on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, filed a petition at the Sekondi High Court.
The party, among other things, wants the court to declare as null and void the declaration of the New Patriotic Party‘s candidate, George Mireku Duker, as the elected Member of Parliament.
With claims of non-completion of collation, they also want the Electoral Commission to be compelled to re-collate the results from all 252 polling stations.
The NDC said the decision to go to court follows an audit of the results and wide consultations with the National and the Regional Executive Committees of the party.
The party said it found “serious violations” of the electoral laws and “many irregularities” in the results declared by the returning officer, hence their decision.
The party has alleged that people voted in some polling stations without verification, hence the court must nullify votes cast in those polling stations.
Below are reliefs the NDC is seeking:
The petition seeks among others,
1. A declaration from the High Court to the effect that, the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 Parliamentary Election on the 8th day of December 2020 is void and of no effect whatsoever.
2. An order to the 2nd respondent to comply with the Public Elections Regulation, 2020, (C.I 127) by re-collating all the results from all the 252 polling stations in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency in the presence of the accredited agents of the NDC and the NPP Parliamentary Candidates and to reflect the true will of the voters there.
3. An order directed at the 2nd respondent to nullify votes cast at polling stations without verification as required by law.
4. And order directed at the 2nd respondent to re-run parliamentary elections at Community Center Boboobo 1A and 1B and the four other polling stations where the votes cast exceeded the total number of voters who voted at these polling stations.
Meanwhile, the party is urging its supports to rally behind them as they begin to “seek justice for the people of the constituency.”
“The true will of the people in the constituency shall manifest in due course,” the party said.