The Minority in Parliament has described the order by the Tamale High Court for the rerun of the entire parliamentary elections in the Kpandai Constituency as a bad precedent for future electoral chaos.
The caucus said the order was not merely disproportionate, but it was an assault on the sovereignty of the people of Kpandai.
By such reckless order, it said, the judge had sent an “unmistakable message” to every political mischief maker and electoral saboteur in Ghana to engage in electoral violence to have their way.
“Create confusion in a few polling stations, destroy materials, disrupt collision, trigger controversy and you may be rewarded with a full rerun.
This is not justice,” the group said.
Addressing the media in Parliament in reaction to the High Court order for the rerun of the Kpandai Constitutuency parliamentary election, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said, “This order is a recipe for electoral anarchy.
“The judge has unwittingly weaponised disruption, and he has created a perverse incentive: structure where chaos becomes strategy, where sabotage becomes litigation and where losing other posts can still mean winning in court, not through superior evidence but through superior disorder,” he said
Petition
The 2024 National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Kpandai, Daniel Nsala Wakpal, on December 23, 2024, filed a petition at the court, challenging the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of Mr Nyindam as the MP-elect for the constituency.
He alleged that the results of the parliamentary elections, as declared by the EC, were invalid due to some irregularities and inconsistencies contained in some of the pink sheets.
Recall
The Tamale High Court last Monday annulled the 2024 parliamentary election results for the Kpandai Constituency in the Northern Region.
The court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Brew Plange, held that the election was flawed with widespread irregularities and, therefore, ordered a rerun of the election within 30 days.
The seat is currently occupied by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP), Matthew Nyindam.
Non-compliance
After examining the evidence, the court agreed with the petitioner, ruling that the level of non-compliance materially affected the outcome of the poll.
It subsequently ordered the EC to organise a new parliamentary election in the constituency to determine the rightful winner.
Following the ruling, lawyers for the defendant have filed for a stay of execution pending the determination of an appeal.
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