Supreme Court Gives EC Four Days to Provide Legal Basis for Rejecting Old Voters ID

The Supreme Court has directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to explain why it has refused to accept the old voter ID cards as a form of identification in the upcoming mass voters’ registration exercise.

A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah, ordered the EC to provide legal reasons in the form of a supplementary statement of the case.

The Supreme Court gave the order on Thursday, June 4, during hearing of a suit by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) challenging the upcoming compilation of a new voters register by the EC.

The EC must provide its response, as directed by the Court, by Monday, June 8, 2020.

Apart from the Chief Justice, the other members on the panel that will decide the case are Justices Jones Dotse, Paul Baffoe Bonnie, Sule Gbagegbe, Samuel K Marful-Sau, Nene Amegatcher, and Professor Ashie Kotey

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Background

The NDC sued the EC over attempts by the commission to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.

The NDC argues in its suit that per Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution the EC lacks the power to go ahead with its plans because it can only “compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law”.

The NDC also in its case invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution with a case that it was unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voters ID as a prerequisite for the upcoming voter registration exercise.

It is the contention of the NDC that it is unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voter ID as it will disenfranchise many Ghanaians which is a violation of Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution.