NPP Court Case

Ghana Elections 2012

50% +
1 vote to win
50.70%
47.74%


Frequently Asked Questions about the NPP Court Case

Q:  Why the NPP is in court?
A:  According to Article 64 (1) of the 1992 Constitution:
“The validity of the election of the President may be challenged only by a citizen of Ghana who may present a petition for the purpose to the Supreme Court within twenty-one days after the declaration of the result of the election in respect of which the petition is presented”.
We have chosen to challenge the 2012 election in the Supreme Court of Ghana, because of numerous irregularities – the sum total of which, once amended, will invalidate the declared results and make Nana Akufo-Addo the legitimate winner.

Q:  What are the votes at stake?
A:  Over 1,340,000 votes from 4,709 polling stations out of the over 24,000 polling stations sampled by the NPP are invalid due to the irregularities and breach of electoral laws; hence all 8 presidential candidates for the 2012 election will have their votes at these polling stations deducted from the declared obtained results.

Screen Shot 2012-12-28 at 3
Q:  What is the impact?
A:  John Mahama had over 916,000 invalid votes included in his total. He therefore receives 48.26% of the valid votes instead of the 50.70% declared by the Electoral Commission on December 9.
Similarly, Nana Akufo-Addo receives 50.28% of the valid votes, as opposed to 47.74%, making him the outright winner once our evidence is taken into account.

 



Q:  What reliefs does the NPP Seek?
A:  The NPP prays that the Supreme Court declares:

  • That John Dramani Mahama, the 1st Respondent in the petition was wrongfully declared as president elect of the Republic of Ghana.
  • That Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 1st Petitioner in the petition, rather was validly elected President of the Republic of Ghana.
  • Consequential orders as the Supreme Court may deem fit.

EC DECLARED

% EC DECLARED

TO BE ANNULED

CORRECT VOTES

CORRECT VOTE %

J. Mahama

5,574,761

50.70%

916,409

4,658,352

48.26%

N. Akufo-Addo

5,248,898

47.74%

395,784

4,853,114

50.28%

Others

171,603

1.56%

30,652

140,951

1.47%

TOTAL

10,995,262

 

1,342,845

9,652,417

 

Q:  Does the court have the power to invalidate the election results and declare another candidate the winner?
A:  Article 64 (2) of the 1992 Constitution says:
“A declaration by the Supreme Court that the election of the President is not valid shall be without prejudice to anything done by the President before the declaration”.

Screen Shot 2012-12-28 at 3Furthermore, Section 19 of PNDC law 284, the Representation of the People’s Act, also states that a court can declare that a named person did not win an election but another person did.  This means that the Supreme Court has the absolute power to invalidate the results of an election brought before it and as such declare another contestant the winner of that same election.

Q:  What impact does the inauguration have on the Court’s decision?
A:  The inauguration has absolutely no impact either on the Supreme Court’s proceedings, or its decisions.  The Supreme Court has every authority to declare election results invalid, and if it says so, John Mahama will no longer be President. The inauguration is absolutely NOT a point of no return.

Q:  Why is John Mahama a respondent?
A:  In the case of an election challenge, the respondents include not only the Electoral Commission, but also the person whose election is challenged.  As the petition filed by Nana Akufo-Addo, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and Dr. Bawumia at the Supreme Court challenges the election of the NDC’s Presidential Candidate, he is therefore a respondent named in the case.

The Constitution makes the Supreme Court the final arbiter on all election disputes.