Election Petition Showdown! NDC’s Dafeamekpor Fires Back—Says Kpandai Case Was Filed On Time, Cites Final EC Gazette as Key! Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Parliamentary Seat
In the Kpandai parliamentary controversy, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, who serves as the Majority Chief Whip, has defended the timeliness of the New Democratic Congress’s election petition, maintaining that it was submitted within the legally allowed timeframe. In response to the allegation made by NPP Member of Parliament Mathew Nyindam that the petition was filed late and that the High Court, as a result, did not have jurisdiction, he contended that the petitioners were right to base their actions on the final Gazette of the Electoral Commission rather than on previous publications. Furthermore, he said that the final Gazette is the only one that has legal power. On January 24th, the EC had not yet finished working on all of the constituencies, which is why a complete Gazette had not yet been published. Because of this, the court decided to reject the version that was published on December 24th. Dafeamekpor said that the EC verified in court which publication was the definitive one and emphasized that even in the event that there are many Gazettes, the most recent one would always take precedence over the others. The High Court ruled that Nyindam’s win in the 2024 election was invalid and ordered a rematch, and the matter is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. Dafeamekpor, however, believes that the petition was submitted in accordance with the rules and that the High Court operated within the scope of its authority.
