NDC polls: NDC abandons "illegal" guidelines and pledges to hold "free and fair" presidential primaries

Thursday, January 17, 2019 Policy

Source: Emmanuel Coffie

2019-01-17

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has agreed to declare null and void its elaborate election guidelines for holding presidential elections in 2019.

The NDC party subsequently agreed to replace the "illegal" election guidelines with the constitution of the National Democratic Congress, in September 1992, as new guidelines for the conduct of its flag-bearer election scheduled for early this year. .

These were contained in a settlement document signed and accepted by the NDC's lawyers and the two plaintiffs who had obtained a provisional injunction against the NDC party because of the "illegal election guidelines" overruled by the defendant (NDC) and used criteria for conducting his presidential primaries.

The said document, a copy of which is in the possession of radiogold905.com, would be submitted to a high court in Accra on Thursday, January 17, 2019 and, if adopted by the court, would pave the way for early election of the flag carrier already delayed from the NDC.

Thus, both parties, the NDC as the defendant, and the two plaintiffs in the settlement document agreed to terminate "all court actions in this case".

Parts of the agreed document read as follows: "The parties agree that elections shall be conducted in accordance with the constitution of the responding party and in a free, transparent and transparent manner". In addition to agreeing to hold elections in a free, fair and transparent manner, the party has also agreed to consider the GHS 300,000 not only as a deposit fee, but also as a contribution by aspirants to the cost of holding the primary presidential.

Other agreed conditions include:

The parties agree that the condition set out in the guidelines, as amended, requiring that a person who aspires to be a candidate for the presidency of the defendant be a member of the accused for 10 years is no longer eligible. 39; application.

The parties agree that the requirement set out in the Guidelines, as amended, that a candidate must demonstrate substantial contributions to the defendant no longer applies.

Finally, the parties agree to set a new date for the primaries, in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions of the National Democratic Congress.

CONTEXT

Last August, the NDC issued election guidelines for its presidential primaries, which set out certain eligibility criteria as prerequisites for presidential candidates.

The directives that originally set a 400,000 GHS fill fee sparked controversy and prompted two card-holding party members to take legal action against the NDC party.

According to the two complainants, MM. Abdallah Issah and James Kabu Nartey-Osman, the said election guidelines provoke the letter and spirit of the NDC constitution and imply the court to declare them illegal.

However, both parties agreed to a friendly settlement after the plaintiffs delayed the electoral process by obtaining an injunction played by a high court in Accra.

Until now, seven aspirants have filled their nominations to compete for the party's flag door place.