EU Commends Akufo-Addo

The European Union has commended 2012 New Patriotic Party Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo and the two other petitioners in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition for rightly choosing to seek redress on their grievances, concerning the conduct and outcome of the December Presidential elections, at the Supreme Court of Ghana. This commendation was contained in a letter signed by Pedro Serrano, a member of Cabinet of the European Council and the Principal Advisor on External Relations to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. The letter from the Union was in response to a Petition submitted to the President of the European Council by the Association of Concerned Ghanaians in Europe. �The EU has consistently called upon parties with grievances in to the electoral process to seek redress through the appropriate legal channels. Accordingly, the EU considers that the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Akufo-Addo, his running mate and the chairman of the NPP were right to seek their grievances addressed through the petition submitted to the Supreme Court. It is now for the Supreme Court to make a ruling on the alleged irregularities based on the evidence submitted�, the letter dated 13th May 2013 said. The EU indicated in the letter that they were closely following the petition hearings through its delegation in Accra and noted the publicly declared commitments of both Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama to respect the verdict of the Supreme Court on the matter. The Union pledged to continuously follow the process in court and support the rule of law in the country and to do its part to ensure that all parties respect the eventual verdict of the Supreme Court. The Presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, his vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and NPP Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey on 28th December, 2012 filed a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration of John Dramani Mahama as winner of the December Presidential Election as a result of numerous constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices which affected the conduct and outcome of the polls. The Petition is requesting the Supreme Court to annul results from over 11,000 polling stations where various irregularities have been identified to have occurred following an analysis of the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms (Pink Sheets), the primary and official record of the elections in those polling stations. Should the Supreme Court uphold the case of the petitioners, Nana Akufo � Addo would have to be declared as the rightful winner of the December elections. Indeed if any one of the four main categories of irregularities (over voting, voting without biometric verification, absence of presiding officer signature and the use of same serial numbers on polling station pink sheets) as outlined by the petitioners is upheld by the Court, it would mean that the declaration of the EC made in December would be set aside.