Election Petition Day 2: Supreme Court Begins Hearing

The second day of the Election petition case is underway at the Supreme Court with NPP running mate Mahmoud Bawumia called upon to give his evidence. The successful filing of affidavits by the Electoral Commission on Tuesday April 17, 2013 paved the way for the Supreme Court to hopefully, barring any technical delays, to begin hearing the substantive election case. The hearing was billed to have started on Tuesday but the Petitioners� Lawyers insisted they could only proceed after the Electoral Commission (EC)-second Respondents-had filed its affidavits. The nine-member Bench of Justices at the Supreme Court will sit every day, including weekends once the substantive case starts until it is brought to an end. The hearing will be televised at every sitting. The Petitioners, the main opposition New Patriotic Party�s 2012 Flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, his running mate Dr Mahmoud Bawumia and the party�s national Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey argue that the EC conspired with the incumbent party-National Democratic Congress-to steal the December 7 and 8 presidential elections for President John Mahama. They therefore, are praying the Court to set aside and nullify the EC�s results which declared President Mahama as winner of the presidential poll. They want the court to annul 4,670,504 of the valid votes cast during the election at 11,916 polling stations where they claim a lot of anomalies occurred. The Court whittled the case down to two issues. They included whether or not there were statutory violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices in the 2012 general elections and if same impacted the final results