Ghana: Supreme Court sets April 16 for sitting on Election Petition

The Supreme Court of Ghana hearing the election petition brought by three leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has set 16th April 2013 to begin sitting. The court has therefore asked the petitioners in the case to file affidavit of witnesses they intend to call. The 2012 presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Chairman of the NPP Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the results of the December 7 presidential elections, and requested the court to annul 4,670,504 of the valid votes cast during the election at 11,916 polling stations where alleged irregularities took place. Early on, the Supreme Court narrowed the essence of the petition to two, based on which they would give their ruling after parties in the case have advanced their arguments. The court would first establish whether or not there were statutory violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices in the 2012 general elections. And secondly, whether the violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices affected the results of the election.