Abu Ramadan rejects EC's ‘NHIS voters’ list

Europa

June 30, 2016 5:53 PM

The Electoral Commission submitted a list of 56,000 as people who registered with NHIS cards ahead of the 2012 general elections after an order by the Supreme Court.

Abu Ramadan

Lawyers for Abu Ramadan, the plaintiff challenging the legality of NHIS registrants on the Voters’ register, have dismissed the list presented by the Electoral Commission to the Supreme Court.

According to them, the list of names submitted by the EC is fake and spurious.

But lead lawyer for the plaintiff, Frank Davies, told the Supreme Court that the figure presented to it could not be right as they knew of more people who registered with NHIS cards in some areas, but were not captured by the EC.

Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood subsequently challenged the People’s National Convention’s (PNC) Abu Ramadan to furnish the Electoral Commission with names of people who registered with NHIS cards ahead of the 2012 elections, since they argue the EC’s figure of 56,000 is fake.According to the Chief Justice, the process of providing a credible register for the elections is a shared responsibility and not one to be left solely for the EC to do.

The Supreme Court has since adjourned the case to Tuesday July 5.

Background

The Supreme Court ordered the EC on Thursday, June 23, to submit the list within six days in order to bring an end to controversy surrounding the voter register.

Many doubted the ability of the EC to meet the deadline given by the Apex court considering the amount of workload involved.

However the EC on Wednesday presented the list to the court registry around 2pm, the deadline offered to it to by the Supreme Court.

The Court’s request for the list followed a suit by the former youth organizer of the People’s National Convention Abu Ramadan for clarification of an earlier ruling by the court on May 5, 2016.

That ruling asked the EC to remove from the electoral roll, all those who used the NHIS card as proof of citizenship during the 2012 registration exercise.

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