Jean Mensa – EC Chairperson
President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission (EC) have filed separate responses to a petition filed at the Supreme Court by the Presidential Candidate of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, challenging the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.
The President in his response described the petition as “incompetent, devoid of substance and does not measure up to the legal criteria for an action invoking this honourable court’s (Supreme Court’s) jurisdiction under article 64(1) of the constitution.”
Nana Akufo-Addo also labeled the petition as a face-saving gimmick by Mr. Mahama after he had claimed that he won the election prior to the declaration by the EC.
“The instant action is a ruse and face-saving gimmick by the petitioner, after the petitioner and many senior members of the NDC party had prematurely claimed outright victory in the election, only to be badly exposed by results of the first respondent (EC), corroborated by all media houses of note in the country as well as many independent local and international observers,” the President argued.
The EC on its part denied all the allegations of vote padding as contained in some parts of the petition.
The EC also argues that Mr. Mahama’s reliance on the error made by the Chairperson of the EC on December 9, 2020 , when she inadvertently mentioned the total number of votes cast as the total valid votes to conclude that the percentage of valid votes for Nana Akufo-Addo would not meet Article 63(3) threshold “is misleading, untenable and misconceived.”
“The full results of the December 7 presidential election was known to the petitioner and that the claims in the petition were contrived had no legal basis and ought to be dismissed,” the EC argued.
Petition
The former President has petitioned the Supreme Court over the results of the 2020 Presidential election which according to the Electoral Commission was won by Nana Akufo-Addo.
He alleged among others that there were passing of votes at centres in favour of Nana Akufo-Addo.
Mr. Mahama in his petition is urging the Supreme Court to annul the results of the December polls as none of the candidates who contested the election got the required 50 per cent plus one of the total votes cast.
He is also asking the apex court for an order of injunction restraining Nana Akufo-Addo holding himself out as President-Elect.
Again, the former President wants the court to order the EC to organize a second election with himself and Nana Akufo-Addo as the only two candidates.
Akufo-Addo’s Response
The President in his response to the petition raises a preliminary objection and is urging the Supreme Court to dismiss it as it does not even meet the criteria for invoking the court’s jurisdiction under Article 64(1) of the constitution.
He argues that the petition does not disclose any attack on the validity of the election held at any of the 38,622 polling stations and 311 special voting centres or any of the processes set out for results tallying.
Instead, Mr. Mahama “only devotes an overwhelming portion of the petition (30 out of 35 paragraphs) to weak and inconsistent complaints about the declaration of the winner of the first respondent (EC), and the remaining five paragraphs to empty allegations of wrong aggregation of votes and vote padding which collectively involve about 6,622 votes—an amount patently insignificant to materially affect the outcome of an election in which the second respondent (Akufo-Addo) defeated petitioner by well over 500,000 votes.”
The President avers that Mr. Mahama, from the reliefs sought, claims that none of the candidates obtained more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the election and therefore seeks a run-off.
However, he does not indicate the number of valid votes or percentages that he or Akufo-Addo should have obtained in the election to support his request for a run-off.
“Second respondent further avers that the failure to plead this supremely material allegation of fact and provide particulars thereof in the petition completely divests petitioner of a cause of action,” the President argues.
“Second respondent, in the circumstances, says the petition is merely conjectural and borne out of petitioner’s unfounded imagination, and further that the material facts in the petition do not support the reliefs sought, and therefore, same should be dismissed in limine as incompetent,” Nana Akufo-Addo argues.
The President also invited the court to determine the petition as “incompetent, frivolous and vexatious.”
EC’s Response
The EC in its response avers that the Presidential Election Declaration Form (Form 13), which is the tally of the 16 Form 12s transmitted, without the results of from Techiman South Constituency, and showing the total votes cast and the total valid votes, shows that second respondent won the December 7, 2020 election.
It further argued that the figures from the results converted into percentages showed that Nana Akufo-Addo had obtained more than 50 per cent of the valid votes, which met the constitutional threshold for election of President under Article 63(3) of the constitution.
It is the case of the EC that as at the time Mr. Mahama filed his petition, he knew that the results of the Techiman South Constituency had been released and it showed that he obtained 52,034 votes while the President obtained 46,379 votes.
“First respondent therefore, says that petitioner’s simulation of the results which deliberately uses and relies on total number of votes cast, which was inadvertently mentioned as total number of valid votes at the press conference, to arrive at the conclusion that the percentage of valid votes for the second respondent would not meet Article 63(3) threshold is misleading, untenable and misconceived.”
The EC also denies allegation of wrong aggregation and vote pading in some constituencies and puts the petitioner to strict proof, adding that those allegations are misleading and self-serving, and do not meet the requirement of law and fact for challenging the validity of the election held on December 7, 2020.
Again, the EC avers that “notwithstanding all the resources and training deployed and the facilities put in place, there was a possibility of minor discrepancies as a result of computational and mathematical errors made in the course of the collation of results; but these did not have a material effect on the overall results as declared.”
“In further denial of the petitioner’s claims, first respondent says that it complied with all the processes and procedures laid down by law for the conduct of the December 7, 2020 Presidential election with fairness to every candidate and without malice, ill will or bias against anyone.”
The EC is therefore, urging the court to dismiss the petition as it does not challenge the validity of election conducted throughout all the 38,622 polling stations and the 311 special voting centres in the country, or contest the lawfulness of votes obtained by any of the parties to the election.
The EC has also raised a preliminary objection to the petition as not meeting the requirement of Article 64(1) of the constitution and Rule 68(1) of the Supreme Court Rules, 1996 (C.I. 16) as amended, challenging the validity of the presidential election held on December 7, 2020.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak