Illegal if Guan residents vote in Buem Constituency – EC clarifies SALL debate
The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed IMANI Africa’s claim that it intentionally disenfranchised the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe (SALL).
According to the EC, voters in the new Guan District cannot vote for an MP in the Buem Constituency, which is located in the Jasikan District, because it would violate Act 936 of the Local Governance Act, 2016.
According to Act 936, an MP cannot be a member of two district assemblies.
So, to avoid a situation in which residents of the two districts, Guan and Jasikan, would vote for one MP, voters in the Guan District could not vote for an MP in the Buem Constituency, which falls under the Jasikan District.
In a statement, the EC said if the districts were allowed to vote for one MP, “that would violate the law, as the MP so elected would be a member of the two district assemblies whose voters elect the MP”.
“The Commission’s statement of 6th December 2020 was a constitutional duty the Commission was bound by law to perform. Had the Commission failed to do so and left residents of the Guan District to vote for an MP in the Jasikan District/Buem Constituency, the election of the MP for the Buem Constituency would have violated an Act of Parliament, Act 936, as the MP would have illegally become a member of more than one District Assembly, the Guan District Assembly and the Jasikan District Assembly.
“It is therefore disingenuous for anyone to suggest that, under the circumstances outlined, the Commission, in performing its constitutional duty, disenfranchised the good people of SALL/ Guan District,” the statement said.
Therefore, the EC absolved itself of any blame for the disenfranchisement of the residents of SALL, further urging the public to ignore claims by IMANI President Franklin Cudjoe that the EC is to blame for the development.
The explanation from the EC follows claims by Mr Cudjoe that the EC intentionally disenfranchised the people of SALL from voting in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
He said this has left them without representation in parliament.
Below is the full statement by the EC