The Supreme Court rules on Mahama

General news for Thursday, March 4, 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

03/04/2021

Hello and welcome to our full text coverage of Judgment Day!

After weeks of legal argument and cross-examination, the Supreme Court of Ghana delivers judgment in the Election 2020 petition trial.

The seven-member panel, chaired by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, had asked lawyers for the parties to the case to file their written closing addresses.

Following the general ballot of 2020, where the chairman of the electoral commission, Jean Mensa, declared Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as laureate, the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, sued the EC and the president in court, on the grounds that we have not reached the constitutional threshold for the election to the high office of president. They also asked the court to invalidate the EC declaration of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president.

Before the start of the trial, the court decided the following questions:

1. Does the motion disclose a reasonable cause of action or not?

2. Whether or not it is based on the data contained in the declaration of the 1st Respondent (EC), no candidate obtained more than 50% of the valid votes cast as required by Article 63 (3) of the Constitution of 1992

3. Has the second respondent yet or not yet met the threshold of Article 63 (3) of the 1992 Constitution by excluding or including the results of the 2020 Techiman South constituency presidential election?

4. Did the declaration of the 1st Respondent dated December 9 or not contravene Article 63 (3) of the Constitution of 1992?

5. The question of whether the alleged filling in of the votes and the other errors denounced by the petitioner affected the results of the 2020 presidential elections.

Will the Supreme Court confirm Akufo-Addo or order a second round? Stay with us on this journey.