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NDC Election Off – DailyGuide Network

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been forced to postpone its presidential primary to elect its flagbearer for the 2020 elections due to a suit brought against the party in December 2018 by two of its members.

NDC slated its
presidential primary for Saturday, January 26, 2019.

However, the
party hierarchy is expected to meet to reschedule a new date for the election.

Deputy General
Secretary of the NDC, Peter Boamah Otokunor told DAILY GUIDE in a telephone
interview yesterday that the election could not proceed as planned due to the
court action.

According to
him, “The party is fighting for an out-of-court settlement so we will present
our agreement tomorrow. When it is accepted we will proceed.”

He said that
the race has been put on an indefinite hold until the agreement is accepted.

Financial Implications

Asked whether
the postponement of the primary may not cause any financial burden for the
aspirants as they would apparently have to extend their campaigns unexpectedly,
the Deputy General Secretary indicated that the candidates were not likely to
raise such concerns.

Each aspirant has coughed out GH¢300,000 as a
filing fee and GH¢20,000 as nomination fee to contest in the party’s
flagbearership race.

This is the second time the NDC is postponing
its presidential primary.

On December 7, last year, the party could not
hold the primary because it said its national executives had just come out of
an election and needed time to prepare for the primary.

Background

It
would be recalled that in December 2018, two members of the NDC- James Kabu Nartey
and Abdallah Issah, took legal action against their party, challenging the
rules and guidelines set for the presidential primary scheduled for January 26,
2019.

They
prayed an Accra High Court to place an interlocutory injunction on the primary which
was granted.

Substantive Case

The
plaintiffs, in the substantive case, are praying the court to declare the
published guidelines for the conduct of the party’s presidential primary as
null and void.

They
were also requesting the High Court to declare that the procedures adopted by
the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) in the preparation and
presentation of the guidelines, together with the amendment without prior
consultation of the National Council of Elders as unlawful.

Again,
they want the NEC to organise the election in a free, fair and transparent
manner while ensuring inclusiveness in accordance with the party’s
Constitution.

NDC has also postponed the vetting of the presidential aspirants of the party, which was scheduled for January 20, 2019.

By Melvin Tarlue

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