“Per Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution, a person does not need to be a registered voter in a particular constituency to enable him/ her to contest an election in that constituency,” the Electoral Commission has stated.
However, if a person wishes to contest in a Parliamentary election in a constituency the person does not hail from, that person must be ordinarily resident there or have resided there for at least five years out of the previous ten years.
This explanation from the Electoral Commission follows an allegation by the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, that the EC was a collaboration between the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the EC for the purpose of transferring the vote of one Charles Opoku to the Assin North constituency ahead of the by-election in that constituency on June 27.
According to Mr Gyamfi, this was to enable the said Charles Opoku to contest the upcoming by-election in Assin North.
But in a press statement dated June 5, 2023, the EC said Sammy Gyamfi’s allegation was misleading.
Mr Gyamfi had alleged that, “Our [NDC] unimpeachable sources have revealed that contrary to the clear requirement on the nomination form for the Assin North by-election, which demands that a candidate in the election must be a registered voter in Assin North, the said Charles Opoku is not a registered voter in the Assin North Constituency”, he said.
Reacting to the allegation, the commission said: “For the records, the EC has not received any such request from the NPP to transfer the votes of any person. This allegation is false and a figment of the author’s imagination. As usual, it is aimed at maligning the integrity of the Electoral Commission”
“Per Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution, a person does not need to be a registered voter in a particular constituency to enable him/ her to contest an election in that constituency…..However, if a person wishes to contest in a constituency where they do not hail from, they must be ordinarily resident there or have resided there for at least five years out of the previous ten years.
The commission added that to date, the NDC has not proved a “single” allegation they have made against the EC.
The EC further observed that the continuous maligning of state institutions such as the EC by the NDC only weakens and undermines the country’s democracy.
The commission said it will continue to uphold transparency, fairness, and integrity in all its operations. while calling on Ghanaians to trust the EC to continue to deliver credible elections.
NPP’s reaction
Meanwhile, the NPP in a press statement issued on Monday June 5, 2023 has debunked the allegations that the Party was in a plot to illegally insert the name of an unqualified NPP Parliamentary candidate into the Assin North Register.
The party said it has not even held a primary to select a candidate to stand on its ticket for it to go ahead and try to insert a name in the register in the constituency.
“It therefore beggars belief how the NDC is able to determine our Parliamentary Candidate ahead of time and to suggest that we are plotting with the EC to illegally insert his name in the Assin North register”, he party stated .
Below is a copy of full statement by the EC:
Below is a copy of the NPP’s statement
