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EC directs aspirant to submit filing fees

The directive follows a court ruling against an application for an injunction seeking to restrain the EC from going ahead with the receipt of filing fees from presidential and parliamentary candidates by the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

 

The substantive matter as to whether the EC can receive the said amount as filing fee was also adjourned to Tuesday, October 11, 2016.

“All nominated candidates for the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections are hereby advised to submit the banker’s draft in respect of their filing fees to the Electoral Commission not later than 12:00 noon on Monday, October 10, 2016,” a statement signed by the EC’s Head of Communications, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu noted.

The statement added: "Presidential nominees are to submit their draft to the Returning Officer at the Head Office of the Commission.

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"Parliamentary nominees are to submit their draft to the Returning Officers at the District Offices of the Electoral Commission where their Constituencies are situated.

"Political parties may alternatively pay for their parliamentary nominees at the Head Office of the Commission; but the banker’s draft for such nominees must be accompanied by a list of the party’s candidates on the party’s letterhead and properly signed by authorised party executives."

The statement also reminded all nominees that the filing fees is an essential requirement for qualification to be accepted as a Candidate for the 2016 elections, as provided for by Regulation 8 (1) (b) of the Public Elections Regulations, 2016 C.I. 94.

-PPP disappointed--

The policy advisor for the PPP, Kofi Asamoah Nsiaw said the party is not disappointed as the substantive case is not over.

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We can’t be disappointed in that because the court has spoken. We came to court for the matter to be determined, the court has determined it. This is part 1, part 2 will follow. So we have to wait till the end of the case,” he said.

The PPP is in court over the GHC50, 000 filing fee for presidential nominees, leading to an injunction placed on some aspects of the filing process.

The party is pursuing a declaration that Regulation 45 of C.I. 94 is discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable. “That the entire C.I. 94 does not contain the appropriate relevant provisions that meet the intendment of Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.”

The other reliefs sought include: “A declaration that the proper instrument within the meaning of the relevant laws of the Republic of Ghana, in charging a deposit or fees for conducting a presidential or parliamentary election, by the Electoral Commission, is a statutory instrument and not constitutional instrument. An order directed at the defendants to desist from collecting and or receiving the said deposit or fees for the conduct of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections until the appropriate statutory instruments have been passed in accordance with appropriate legal rights.”

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