EC didn’t need court order to re-collate results in disputed constituencies

The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has argued that the Electoral Commission (EC) does not require a court order to re-collate results in disputed constituencies.

This assertion comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s December 27 ruling, which overturned an earlier High Court decision that had granted the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) application directing the EC to re-collate results in certain constituencies with disputes.

The Supreme Court’s decision has reignited debate over the EC’s authority to independently address discrepancies in election results.

In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Atta Akyea emphasized that the Electoral Commission has the legal mandate to re-collate results in constituencies where irregularities or fraud are suspected. He also underscored the EC’s autonomy in reviewing parliamentary election outcomes to ensure credibility and accuracy.

“I do not know the full motivation for anybody to go for a mandamus, because it lies within the power of the EC to look at the results again. It should come to the notice of the EC, in trying to discharge the constitutional duty that indeed and in fact, somebody has been a beneficiary of electoral violence or fraud.

“It is found out that instead of several polling stations being put together, some were left out, and the process has not culminated in the gazetting of whoever is alleged to have won.

“I submit with the greatest of respect that the EC being a constitutional body and decision maker, can remedy it without any court order. That is my humble view… What if the declaration was found on an error and it didn’t have the full complement of the pink sheets.”

When asked if the EC shouldn’t have waited for a mandamus application before the re-collation, he said, “At all.”

“I’m of the humble view that even if you want to go to Parliament, it should go beyond controversy. It shouldn’t be the one profiting from the fraud of an election. What would be your moral justification for sitting in that chamber when you didn’t win? Some people are talking about duress, and errors in computation, nevertheless, I want to take a seat in Parliament.”