Presidential Candidates for 2016 Elections
The Electoral Commission (EC) has given the green light to seven presidential candidates to contest in the December election.
The candidates are President John Dramani Mahama, National Democratic Congress (NDC); Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, New Patriotic Party (NPP); Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, Convention People’s Party (CPP) and an independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY).
The rest are Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the Progressive People Party (PPP); Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, National Democratic Party (NDP) and Dr Edward Nasigiri Mahama, People’s National Convention (PNC) – who were earlier disqualified by the commission together with eight others last month for anomalies on their nomination forms.
The EC yesterday, finally, cleared the candidates after accepting their nomination forms to join the four candidates approved earlier.
Ayariga, Others Kicked Out
However, the EC rejected the nominations of eight other candidates for failing to abide by the C.I. 94 – the law governing the December polls.
The disqualified aspirants are Nana Agyenim Boateng aka Gyataba of the United Front Party (UFP); Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew, Democratic People’s Party (DPP); Dr. Hassan Ayariga, All People’s Congress (APC) and Kofi Akpaloo, Independent People’s Party (IPP).
The rest are Henry Lartey, Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); Richard Nixon Tetteh, Unity Development System Party (UDSP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker and Akua Donkor, Ghana Freedom Party (GFP).
Two other candidates, Akwasi Addai Odike, UPP and Kwabena Adjei Bambata, RPD, had voluntarily stepped down from the race with Odike throwing his weight behind Nana Akufo-Addo.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday, Charlotte Osei, EC chairperson, explained that the disqualified candidates’ nomination forms fell short of the requirements stated in the C.I. 94.
“The commission was ordered by the Supreme Court to extend the nomination period to Tuesday, the 8th of November, 2016, and to give candidates who have previously submitted their nomination forms as at September 30, 2016, the opportunity to correct any errors that had been discovered on their forms.”
“Following that order, the Commission invited 13 candidates whose nomination forms had been received as at September 30, 2016, and were given hearings.”
“The Commission took them through the errors and omissions on their forms. During the meetings we also pointed out to them the areas of concern which the Commission had noticed on their forms during the extended nomination period, with the opportunity to correct them,” she said.
The EC boss said contrary to reports in the media, the hearing was amicable and all candidates and their representatives cooperated with the commission and that there were no altercations.
Balloting
After the seven candidates had been cleared to contest in the December 7 presidential poll, balloting for the presidential slot was carried out at the EC head office in Accra.
The balloting saw the two front runners in the 2016 election – the NDC’s John Dramani Mahama and NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – occupying the third and the fifth positions respectively. Those were the positions the two partied had picked during the parliamentary ballot two weeks ago.
This means that on the voting day (December 7), John Mahama will be third on the ballot paper, and Nana Addo will occupy the fifth position; and the same will apply to these parties’ parliamentary aspirants.
Per the balloting, Ivor Greenstreet’s CPP took the first position, followed by Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’s NDP, while Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom’s PPP picked the fourth.
The sixth and the seventh positions were occupied by Dr. Edward Mahama’s PNC and independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah respectively.
The NPP was represented by its campaign Chairman, Peter Mac Manu and acting General Secretary, John Boadu, while the NDC was represented by the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
The PPP was also represented by its Director of Operations, Nana Ofori Owusu, and the CPP by Kwabena Bomfeh.
By Cephas Larbi
cephrok@yahoo.com