News:
June 10, 2015
Parliament has ratified the District Level Elections Regulations, 2015, Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 89 which is to regulate the conduct of this year’s local level elections.
This follows the Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 89 meeting the mandatory legal 21 Parliamentary sitting days.
The approval empowers the Elect oral Commission to now begin the process of setting a date to hold the District Assembly elections after it had been botched due to a dispute at the court.
C.I.89 also provides for the nomination of candidates for District Assembly or Unit Committee elections and other related items.
The report of the Parliamentary Committee on Subsidiary Legislation on the District Level Elections Regulations, 2015 (C.I 89) signed by its Chairman, Osei Bonsu Amoah, which recommended the approval of the C.I was earlier laid on the floor of the House on Tuesday.
The District Level Elections Regulations, 2015 (C.I. 89) was laid in Parliament on March 20, 2015 and gazetted on the same day.
The Electoral Commission postponed the District Level Elections, which was originally set for October 2014 to March 2015.
Earlier to that, the District Electoral Areas and Designation of Units Instrument, 2014 (C.I.85) which was laid before Parliament on Friday, November 21, 2014, was to come into force on Monday, December 22, 2014.
But before the C.I.85, could come to force, the Electoral Commission had opened nominations of candidates for the District Assembly and Unit Committee elections.
The nominations were closed on Sunday, December 21, 2014, a day before the regulations came into force.
An aggrieved candidate for the District Assembly elections, Benjamin Eyi Mensah, filed a suit at the Supreme Court, in quest of, a declaration that the opening and closing of nominations for the elections preceding to the entry into force of the regulations was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court unanimously held that the opening and closing of the said nominations pending the entry into force of C.I.85 on Monday, December 22, 2014 was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court maintained that by virtue of Article 51 of the 1992 Constitution, the Electoral Commission is mandated to specifically make regulations for the District Level Elections.
As a result, the Electoral Commission could not rely on the Public Elections Regulations, 2012 (C.I. 75) to conduct the District Level Elections.
Subsequent to the Supreme Court decision, the Electoral Commission then ensured that the District Level Elections Regulations, 2015 (C.I.89), was laid on Friday, March 20, 2015.
Under C.I.89, the Electoral areas specified in the District Electoral Areas and Designation of Units Instrument, 2014 (C.I.85) constitute the electoral areas for the purposes of elections to the District Assembly for the district concerned.
Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh