The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has once again called on the Electoral Commission (EC) and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to stop transferring its parliamentary candidate for the Assin North constituency, Charles Opoku, to the voter register.
In a statement on Sunday, the NDC accused the NPP and the EC of attempting to include Opoku, who is not a registered voter in the constituency, on the voter register.
The NPP rejected the claim in a counter statement, while the EC also denied colluding with the NPP to transfer Opoku’s name to the voter register.
In a statement on June 5, the NDC insisted that the EC and the NPP’s attempts to nominate Opoku, who is not a registered voter in the Assin North constituency, is unlawful and must stop.
“The good people of Assin North deserve to know the truth that the said Charles Opoku who is seeking to represent them in Parliament on the ticket of the NPP, is not a registered voter in the Assin North constituency,” the NDC said.
The party added that “under Article 94 of the Constitution, which the EC and the NPP have copiously referenced, one is required to be a registered voter to be eligible to contest as a Member of Parliament. It does not take a legal luminary to understand that the purpose of this constitutional requirement is for a candidate to have a voting right and interest in an election to be eligible to contest and be voted for in that election.”
The NDC stressed that it is only going by the EC’s own nomination forms and their own C.I 127.
“The NDC is only sticking to the clear provisions of the EC’s own nomination forms and their own C.I 127. Enough of the deception by the NPP and their collaborators in the Electoral Commission,” the NDC asserted in its statement.
The Assin North by-election is slated for June 27 following the Supreme Court’s ruling in May that James Gyakye Quayson’s name be expunged from Parliament as the Member of Parliament for Assin North.
Parliament then expunged his name, declaring the seat vacant and paving the way for a by-election on June 27.
The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Quayson was not qualified to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections in the Assin North Constituency at the time he filed his nomination forms on October 9, 2020.
Credit: Citinewsroom.com