Election Petition: Judgment Day September 4?

• Posted on August 7, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The verdict of the Supreme Court on the Presidential Election Petition challenging the declaration of John Mahama as winner of Ghana’s 2012 presidential elections may come on September 4, 2013.

President of the panel of judges hearing the case gave the indication after the court heard last minute oral pitches by lawyers for the petitioners and the respondents, Wednesday.

Justice William Atuguba said the court will return on August 14, 2013 to tie up some loose ends and seek clarification where necessary. After that, count of the mandatory 15 days – after close of arguments – within which the verdict must be given will begin, he said.

Counting 15 week days from August 15, the verdict is likely to come on September 4.

The Petitioners – NPP flagbearer in the 2012 elections, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and party Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey – want some three million votes nullified.

They say those votes were invalid because of irregularities and statutory violations during the polls.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respondents, John Mahama, the Electoral Commission, and the National Democratic Congress respectively, have however maintained that elections were credible, free and fair.

They contend that what the petitioners point to as evidence of irregularities and statutory violations were at best clerical errors.

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