The Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei has disclosed that the commission has been served with an interlocutory injunction by the court hence the temporal suspension of the receipt of filled nomination forms by presidential, independent and parliamentary aspirants although tomorrow was to have been deadline date.
Madam Osei informed the New Patriotic Party’s presidential nominee, Nana Akufo-Addo about the development when he was in to file his completed forms.
Nana Addo sought to ascertain if the injunction affected only presidential aspirants or parliamentary aspirants as well to which the Electoral Commissioner (EC) chair stated yes.
Madam Osei further told Nana Addo that she did not want to be in contempt of the court hence obedience to the court’s order.
Paa Kwesi Ndoum’s Progressive People’s Party (PPP) unenthused by the stipulated fees of GH¢50,000 to be paid by Presidential hopefuls and GH¢10,000 by parliamentary aspirants filed a suit at the High Court seeking an interlocutory injunction to prevent the EC from receiving the nominations, further seeking interpretation if the EC’s astronomical fee rise was constitutional.
The PPPÂ filed an interlocutory injunction application on Wednesday afternoon to stop the EC from going ahead to receive the said fees together with the nomination forms from Thursday.
The EC on September 8, announced the filing fees for presidential and parliamentary candidates at GH¢50,000.00 and GH¢10,000.00 respectively, an action which the party has described as “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.â€
According to the party, although the EC per PNDC Laws 284 and 285 had the discretionary powers to charge filing fees for presidential and parliamentary elections, the electoral body needed a statutory instrument and not a constitutional instrument to exercise those discretionary powers.
The party is, therefore, praying the High Court to stop the EC from collecting the fees until the appropriate statutory instruments have been passed, in accordance with an appropriate legal regime.
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