Assin North: EC Can’t Declare Seat Vacant Until The Court Case Is Finished – Ben Ephson

Pollster and Managing Editor of the Dispatch, Mr Ben Ephson has said the Electoral Commission (EC) cannot declare the Assin North seat vacant to enable the by-election to take place in that constituency until the conclusion of the case against the Member of Parliament James Gyekye Quayson.

“Until the substantive case is heard I think it will be difficult for the Electoral Commission to declare the seat vacant. It is when the final decision is made that may pave the way for a by-election,” Mr Ephson said on the Key Points on TV3 with host Dzifa Bampoh on Saturday April 16.

Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba also made similar comment saying there cannot be a by-election in Assin North until the final determination of the case

The Supreme Court by a majority decision of 5-2 on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, ordered Mr Gyekye Quayson to stop holding himself as a lawmaker.

Justices Agnes Dordzie and Nene Amegatcher dissented while Prof. Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi voted in favour.

A Cape Coast High Court, presided over by Justice Coram Kwasi Boakye, had earlier ruled that Mr Gyakye Quayson was not eligible to contest the December 7, 2020, Parliamentary Elections because he bore dual citizenship before picking nomination forms from the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC).

Fresh elections were, as a result, ordered to be conducted while Mr Gyakye Quayson was asked to cease holding himself as MP.

But, until the Supreme Court ruling, the man accused of having Canadian and Ghanaian citizenship was allegedly going to Parliament to join in proceedings.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 with host Dzifa Bampoh on Saturday April 16, Mr Amaliba said “Yes, there are some restrains on him that will not make him function as a Member of Parliament but he still remains a Member of Parliament.

“That is why I have said that there cannot be a by-election until the final determination of the substantive case.”

Source: 3news