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Lawyers for the Election Commission (EC), the first respondent in the ongoing petition hearing, say it is unfortunate that they were dragged to court by NDC 2020 presidential candidate John Mahama.
According to them, the innocuous error made by the boss of the EC, Jean Mensah, when declaring the results of the elections of December 9, had no impact on the result of the election which triggered the petition.
They further stated that the former president did not provide any evidence to challenge the election results and, for that matter, the declaration of the result and, therefore, they ask the court to dismiss the petitioner’s case.
The brief is contained in the written closing remarks filed by the lawyers pursuant to the orders of the Supreme Court.
The Apex court announced on Monday that it would render judgment on the election petition on Thursday, March 4.
Mr. Mahama had filed a petition rejecting the election results declared on December 9 stating that none of the candidates who contested the December 7 election, including himself, had reached the constitutional threshold of obtaining more than 50% of the valid votes cast.
The Election Commission and President Akufo-Addo were named as defendants in the petition as required by law.
The lawyers of the former president during the trial handed the EC a document asking it to admit certain facts, including the fact that its president announced 13.4 million valid votes while granting President Akufo-Addo 6 , 7 million votes.
They say that the fact that the EC did not admit or refute these facts within 14 days as required by law means that the facts were admitted.
An admission of these facts, according to them, means that President Akufo-Addo did not obtain more than 50% of the votes cast.
They therefore urge the Supreme Court, on March 4, to order the Electoral Commission to organize a second round between President Akufo-Addo and Mr. Mahama.
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