[2009]DLSC4491 • April 9, 2009 • Supreme Court •
THE REPUBLIC vs. THE HIGH COURT JUDGE, SUNYANI (RESPONDENT) EX PARTE ALHAJI COLLIN DAUDA (APPLICANT) AND YIADOM BOAKYE BOATENG (INTERESTED PARTY)
Alhaji Collins Dauda, NDC Parliamentary candidate for Asutifi South, filed an election petition before the High Court, Sunyani, challenging the election results alleging tampering with ballot boxes and praying for annulment or declaration of winner. The petition was filed before the Electoral Commission declared the election results. The High Court judge ruled the petition was properly before the court despite objections that the petition was premature as results had not been gazetted.
read moreDR. DATE-BAH JSC:- UNANIMOUS RULING This case raises an important issue of jurisdiction in relation to election petitions. It is this: does the High Court have jurisdiction to entertain any election petition under the Representation of the People Law 1992 (PNDCL 284) before the Electoral Commission has declared the results of that election? The facts Before we provide an answer to this question, let me set out the material facts of this case. This is an application by Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Parliamentary candidate for the National Democratic Congress for the Asutifi South Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region. The application seeks to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction of this Court to quash, by an order of certiorari, the ruling of His Lordship Justice Francis Kwabena Opoku of the Sunyani High Court, dated 6th January 2009, and to prohibit the said learned judge from going on with the suit number C11/01/09, intituled: The NPP Parliamentary Candidate, Yiadom Boakye-Bo...