Politics of Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Source: tv3network.com

District level elections to be held in July - reports

The 2014 district level elections – originally scheduled to be held on March 3 – may be held in July, tv3network.com has gathered.

The much-publicised national exercise – to elect members of the various district assemblies and unit committees – was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court after it was petitioned by disqualified aspirant Benjamin Eyi Mensah.

Mr Mensah, a fisherman in Winneba, contested his disqualification from the exercise, insisting it was not consistent with the by-laws guiding the elections.

The Commission was ordered by the Court to lay before Parliament constitutional instrument (CI) 85 for proper maturity in order to reopen nominations across the country.

Tv3network.com gathers that the EC will file that legislation on March 16 while it will request an additional GH¢90 million to run the elections in July having already spent at least GH¢310 million on the cancelled elections.

But for lack of funds the district level elections should have been held in October, 2014.

Meanwhile, President John Mahama is expected to call on Parliament by executive instrument to extend the mandate of the incumbent assembly and unit committee members after expiry of their tenures on Friday, March 13.