General News of Thursday, 25 February 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Election Petition: Asking the NDC to bring out a different figure totally irrelevant – Joyce Bawah Mogtari

Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Special Aide to John Dramani Mahama Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Special Aide to John Dramani Mahama

Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Special Aide to John Dramani Mahama, the Petitioner in the ongoing Election Petition hearing at the Supreme Court, has indicated that asking the Petitioner to bring out a different figure to show his disagreement with the December 7, 2020, election results is not relevant to the case before the court.

According to her, the Petitioner through his lawyers and witnesses were able to tell the Supreme Court that based on the figures of the Electoral Commission, named as 1st Respondent, the declaration by the Chairperson of the 1st Respondent was unconstitutional.

In a series of posts on her Twitter timeline, Joyce Bawah Mogtari argued that the 1st Respondent through an unsigned press release admitted that there were errors with the figures, yet “They decided not to testify at all!”

Joyce Bawah Mogtari asked: “How can the court determine there were errors without their evidence? What is also strange is that the number they put out in their “correction” on 10th December for total valid votes cast is not the figure they are giving in their Answer as the figure for total valid votes cast!”

She continued: “How can that be? Yet they will not give evidence to explain what exactly is the right figure.”

John Dramani Mahama is praying the Supreme Court of Ghana to annul the results of the elections as declared by the Chairperson of the 1st Respondent on December 9, 2020.

He argues that the figures from the 1st Respondent show clearly that none of the candidates met the constitutional threshold of winning the election with more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes.

All the parties involved in the case have submitted their closing statements to the court.

The Supreme Court has set March 4, 2021, to rule on the petition.