General News of Thursday, 29 September 2016

Source: starrfmonline.com

Nana Addo files nomination forms but EC rejects filing fee

Nana Addo and some NPP officials at the EC HQ Nana Addo and some NPP officials at the EC HQ

The Electoral Commission has rejected the 50, 000 Ghana cedis filing fee of the New Patriotic Party flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo due to an interlocutory injunction filed by the Progressive People’s Party.

The EC has, however, accepted Nana Addo's nomination forms for the Presidency ahead of the December 7 elections.

The EC’s decision to reject the filing fee comes after the PPP on Wednesday initiated legal processes at the Accra High Court to restrain Ghana’s Electoral Commission from going ahead to receive nomination fees from aspirants seeking to contest this year’s general elections.

The PPP which has sued the Commission over the fees, filed an interlocutory injunction application to stop the EC from going ahead to receive the said fees together with the nomination forms from Thursday.

Per a Supreme Court decision, an application for interlocutory injunction technically applies as an injunction, hence the EC cannot go ahead to collect the filing fees from today.

The amount, which was announced by the EC on September 8 at an Inter Party Advisory Committee, has been described by many political parties as outrageous and illegal, triggering the lawsuit by the PPP a week ago.

The decision by the NPP to also pay for all of its 275 parliamentary candidates was also rejected by the Electoral Commission due to the above mentioned reasons.