The Electoral Commission (EC) has set the close of work Tuesday, November 8 as the deadline for the re-submission of nomination forms of the thirteen disqualified presidential aspirants who wish to correct any errors on their forms, the Commission's Spokesperson, Eric Dzakpasu has disclosed.
The new deadline comes after the Supreme Court's decision to uphold an Accra High Court's ruling which ordered the EC to allow the Progressive People's Party's (PPP) Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom correct anomalies on his form which had been cited as the basis for his disqualification.
The EC at a press conference on October 10 rejected the nomination of Dr Nduom and twelve others saying some errors on their forms breached the electoral laws of the country.
Dr Nduom, arguing that he had not been afforded the opportunity to make any corrections because the Commission had not set any nomination period as its own regulations stated, sued praying the Accra High Court to “grant an order directed against the 1st Respondent [Charlotte Osei] in her capacity as Returning Officer for Presidential elections to grant the Applicant the opportunity to amend and alter the one anomaly found in his nomination papers as well as accept his nomination papers as amended or altered to enable him contest as a Presidential Candidate for the 7th December 2016 elections.
The court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour granted Dr Nduom the relief saying the EC breached the laws of natural justice by not affording him an opportunity to correct mistakes on his nomination forms.
The EC on Monday, after a review of the High Court ruling, filed suit at the Supreme Court to invoke its supervisory jurisdiction to quash Justice Kyei Baffour's decision saying an interpretation from the Supreme Court would bring finality to the subject of disqualification as other parties including the All People's Congress (APC), National Democratic Party (NDP), People's National Convention (PNC) had filed suits at the Accra High Court challenging the disqualifications of their flagbearers.
According to their suit, the High Court committed an error of law apparent on the face of the record; wrongly assumed jurisdiction of the matter; and exceeded its jurisdiction.
But before the Supreme Court could settle the matter, another High Court presided over by Justice Barbara Tetteh Charway in a ruling on Friday, ordered the EC to allow APC flagbearer, Hassan Ayariga the chance to correct the errors.s expectedÂ
As expected by the EC, the Supreme Court brought a finality to the matter as the seven-member panel, headed by Justice Sophia Adinyira, after upholding the High Court ruling on Dr Nduom's case, ordered the EC to extend the nomination period to allow the affected aspirants make the necessary corrections.
Speaking on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen on Monday, Mr Dzakpasu stated, "we fully accept the orders of the Supreme Court and will wholly abide by the decision" and in adherence, "we are giving all aspirants by 5pm tomorrow to do all necessary corrections or they will be automatically disqualified"
"The decision is that any presidential aspirant who wishes to correct errors on the forms can come to us for it but must re-submit by 5pm tomorrow", he explained.
He thanked the Supreme Court and all Ghanaians for their patience as they tested the law.