Some Quotes from the Judges

…The Petitioners have not led sufficient evidence for me to come to the conclusion that there was clearly a mathematical chance that the results could change then the votes would have to be annulled and a re-run held. But then in many instances the over-voting was either one or two, and certainly that cannot lead to annulment of the entire votes.

In my attempt to resolve these electoral issues, although there may be an

unlimited number of ways to guide me, the fundamental one, in my

opinion, is fidelity to the terms of the Constitution, and of such other law as objectively reflects the intent and purpose of the Constitution, to uphold the right to vote, and the enfranchising objective of the Constitution.

…Overturning an election is a very serious matter. In order to uphold the

grounds for annulling votes that the Petitioners are requesting to be

annulled for irregularities, malpractices and statutory breach, this court

must be satisfied that the petitioners have successfully discharged the onus they bore right from the onset.

…While it is conceivable that the law of elections can be infringed, especially through incompetence, malpractices or fraud attributable to the

responsible agency, it rests on the person who thus alleges, to produce the necessary evidence in the first place. I cannot be so satisfied that the Petitioners discharged the burden of proof.- Justice Adinyira

Democracy is an evolving phenomenon and elections cannot be perfect

so when we are faced with the consideration of irregularities that are

alleged to have occurred in an election, we should exercise a reluctance in striking down every single vote just by reference to a provision of the law. On the contrary, the irregularity must have affected the integrity of the elections. The substantive approach serves the same purpose as the

Purposive approach to the interpretation of statutes that our courts have

come to embrace in several decisions in this country.

… One question that the failure by the petitioners to make available a single affidavit from a person who was present at any of the polling stations continually brings up is why were they not called? Since the petitioners had polling agents at all the polling stations as appear from the pink sheets exhibited before us, the reasonable inference therefrom is that the said agents are available. It being so, the failures to have them testify to affidavits in support of the allegation of absence of biometric verification has a decisive evidential attribute. The circumstances of this case in as far as the positive allegation of absence of biometric verification is concerned is that those agents have a duty to speak in the face of the depositions made by witnesses for the Respondents and as such their silence has the effect of rendering the version testified to by their adversaries unchallenged and also deemed to be an admission –  Justice N. S. GBADEGBE

… Therefore where a dispute arises as to whether a voter had been

verified, the best evidence should be the verification machine. Even if

the pink sheet were the primary document, it is not conclusive; for it is

my respectful view that prints out from the verification device would

have put to rest any arguments as to whether those persons went

through the verification process or not.

…It is to be noted that when the petitioners made the allegation which

was denied by the 2nd respondent, it was not enough for the 2nd

petitioner to have mounted the witness the box and repeated the

averments since those facts are capable of proof by some other

means i.e. producing the prints out of the machine as a form of proof.

For the foregoing reasons I would dismiss the petition in its

entirety.I must say that on paper, we seem to have a transparent

electoral system which has evolved over the years. The political

parties have been active participants. Even though the IPAC is not

backed by law, it has played a pivotal role at every stage of the

process. The registration of voters, printing of ballot papers, training

of polling agents, the sorting and counting done publicly, the

transparent ballot boxes and the photo identification cards raise the

level of transparency to a very high degree. It became evident

however that the myriad of errors and blunders were committed by

the election officials. Such errors did no credit to the system. It is

therefore recommended the caliber of persons recruited for the

exercise- Justice V. AKOTO-BAMFO

Posted by admin on Sep 16 2013. Filed under Community News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry