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Member of the National Democratic Congress’ Presidential Aspirant, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor’s team, Kofi Kukubor, has rebutted the claim that the party’s guidelines stipulate the full delegates’ list be made available to aspirants ahead of the primaries.
According to him, the party’s guidelines only guarantee free and fair internal elections and make no mention of a delegates’ list.
“There is nothing stated there on the register. [Concerning documents to be given aspirants] nothing is stated in the guideline. The obligation primarily is to ensure free and fair election,” he said.
He was reacting to a statement made by the NDC in a press statement and reiterated by the party’s Director of Legal Affairs, Abraham Amaliba, on PM Express where the latter had said;
“Let me say that our elections are governed by our own guidelines; they are not governed by the Electoral Commission’s guidelines. So, when you look at our guidelines, they are very clear. The guidelines talks about the delegates’ list. The guidelines do not talk about photo album.”
Kofi Kukubor stated that the above assertion is false.
He said that what is indeed stated in the NDC’s guidelines is that the EC’s laws will apply on the day of the election, unless otherwise stated.
“Regulation 8 of the guideline clearly stipulates the rules that will apply because it says the elections shall be conducted by the Electoral Commission of Ghana in collaboration with the National Democratic Congress. So purely if regulation [8] [1] [2] of the guidelines states that on the day of elections the laws of EC shall apply unless otherwise stated. So therefore it is the EC’s law that is applying.
“So if you have not stated otherwise in your guideline the specific rule that will apply, the one conducting the election’s rule will apply,” he said.
He further argued that it was important for the voters’ register be made available in full to all aspirants and the supervisory body for perusal and analysis; however that has not been done.
The EC’s Dr. Serebour Quaicoe who was also on the show revealed that the Commission was yet to be furnished with a voters’ register despite stakeholders agreeing the document should be made available at least a week before the elections.
“So how do you conduct free and fair elections on the D-day? By using the voter register because without the voter register you cannot conduct elections, because you have to analyse which documents are going to be used or materials are going to be used on the day of election.
“The base document is not even the ballot paper, it’s the voter register. And the EC is saying that as of today they have not taken delivery of the voter register. So what exactly are they going to use on the day of election for EC’s rule to apply?” Mr. Kukubor said.
Dr. Duffuor’s injunction against the party will be heard on Friday May 12, a day before the scheduled May 13 presidential and parliamentary primaries.
Meanwhile, the NDC is urging all aspirants and party faithful to keep calm as the party’s legal team sort out the issue.
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