EC gazettes all 2020 parliamentary election results; names of MPs-elect submitted to Parliament
The Electoral Commission announces that the 2020 parliamentary election results were published in the Ghana Gazette on 22 December
The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced that the results of the 7 December 2020 parliamentary election were published in the Ghana Gazette on Tuesday (22 December).
On 23 December, the EC also submitted all 275 names of MPs-elect to Parliament to make possible their swearing-in in the early hours of 7 January 2021.
As such, all challenges against both parliamentary and presidential results must now be settled in the law courts. The declared results of the presidential election were gazetted on Thursday 10 December.
In effect, the purported injunction granted against the EC by the high court in Ho, presided over by Justice George Buadi, is of no effect, legal experts familiar with the development have said. The injunction – issued against the EC, the municipal electoral officer for Hohoe, John Peter Amewu (the declared winner of the Hohoe seat) and the Attorney General – was granted on Wednesday 23 December to stop the EC from proceeding to gazette the result.
An injunction cannot be sought and granted to stop something that has already taken place, legal experts say.
The injunction, granted not at the Hohoe high court but in Ho, has caused raised eyebrows. It was issued ex parte, without the court hearing the other parties, principally the MP-elect, John Peter Amewu, and representatives of the EC itself.
In a previous life, between 1993 and 2001, Justice George Buadi, 57, served twice as the MP for Amenfi East. He represented the National Democratic Congress.
Move to set aside court motion
The EC’s decision to submit the list of all 275 MPs-elect to Parliament after gazetting was the electoral body’s final direct act in the 2020 general election. It will enable all necessary action to be taken before the formal inauguration of the eighth parliament of the Fourth Republic.
The 86-page gazette, numbered 195 and titled Parliamentary Election Results – 2020, was executed on 22 December. It opens with the results from the Western Region and ends with those from the Upper East.
Samuel Tettey, the deputy chairman of the EC in charge of operations, signed the gazette on behalf of the Electoral Commission.
Asaase Radio’s checks show that lawyers of the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General’s department are heading to the courts to set aside the ex parte injunction from the Ho high court.
Countdown
Any challenge to any of the parliamentary elections can now begin. The New Patriotic Party saying it intends to challenge seven seats declared for the NDC, and the NDC is expected to challenge at least four.
The parties have 21 days, starting from 22 December, to file any petitions against parliamentary results. For the presidential election, the clock started ticking right after declaration on 9 December.
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