Court of Appeal to hear Asutifi South election petition

The Court of Appeal (CA) will on

Tuesday hear
an appeal application brought before it by the Electoral

Commission (EC) challenging the Sunyani High Court's ruling on

a preliminary objection on the Asutifi South Parliamentary election

petition.
When the matter came up for hearing on January 10, Mr Justice

Francis Kwabena Opoku, the Supervising High Court Judge sitting

on it, adjourned proceedings sine die (indefinitely) following a

notice to the effect that the EC had filed an appeal against the

ruling.
The EC is praying the Court of Appeal to stay proceedings at

the High
Court because, in the view of the Commission, the petition is not

properly laid before the court.
After the December 7 elections, Mr Yiadom Boakye-Boateng,

New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate for Asutifi

South, filed an election petition and a motion for interim injunction

at the Sunyani High Court praying it to restrain electoral officers

from declaring the result of the election in the constituency.

Mr Boakye-Boateng alleged that the entire process of collating

the constituency results needed to be looked into or investigated

because it was fraught with corrupt and illegal practices.

He further alleged that the electoral officers, presiding officers,

polling agents, security personnel and the NDC candidate, Alhaji

Collins Dauda, had involved themselves in electoral malfeasance.

On December 22, 2008, the High Court overruled a preliminary

objection raised by counsel for Alhaji Collins Dauda, the National

Democratic Congress candidate, that the application was not

properly brought before the court.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Opoku said Mr Boakye-Boateng's

application was properly laid before the court.
The Asutifi South and Akwatia constituencies are the remaining

parliamentary results yet to be declared by the Electoral

Commission.