Reasoning of the Wenchi High Court: Techiman South Parliamentary Election petition

The Wenchi High Court on November 30, 2022, dismissed the Techiman South Parliamentary election petition case by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2020 parliamentary candidate Mr. Christopher Beyere Baasongti. 

On the fundamental issue of whether the petitioner garnered the highest number of valid votes, the court presided over by Justice Frederick Arnold Nawurah held that the petitioner had failed to discharge the burden of proof on the preponderance of probabilities.

Additionally, the court made a finding that neither the views of the petitioner and his witnesses nor their exhibits adduced, met the standard of proof relative to his claim on the EC failing to collate the results of the poll before declaring the 1st respondent, Martin Adjei Mensah as the winner.

The Techiman South Parliamentary election petition is one of the 16 legal battles initiated by the ruling NPP and the opposition NDC across the country over the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Mr. Baasongti argued that per the votes counted at all the polling stations in Techiman South, he (Baasongti) should have been declared the MP-elect.

“That per the pink sheets the petitioner got from his polling agents at each of the 267 polling stations, the petitioner (Baasongti) garnered 50,306 votes in the parliamentary election, while the first respondent (Korsah) got 50,013 votes,” he argued.

The NDC candidate contended that apart from getting the highest number of votes, there was no collation of the results as required by Regulation 43 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), but the EC’s returning officer ended up declaring Mr. Korsah the winner.

“Up to the date of the filing of the instant election petition, neither the petitioner nor any of his representatives have been invited by the second respondent (EC) or its agents for the collation of the parliamentary results of the Techiman South Constituency,” Mr. Baasongti averred.

Among other reliefs, the petitioner was seeking an order from the court directed at the EC to collate the results of all the polling stations in Techiman South and also for the EC to publicly declare him as the winner of the 2020 parliamentary election in the constituency.

However, in its 40-page judgment, the court also found that despite claims made by the petitioner in his pleadings relative to his having won the highest number of valid votes if not for wrong entries at nine polling stations, he failed to guide the court in establishing the truth and rather left it to speculation.

Also since the third and fourth issues were inextricably linked to the first and second they stood automatically dismissed after the court decided on the first and second thus dismissing the petition in its entirety and holding as valid the election of the NPP candidate, Martin Adjei Mensah as MP for the Techiman South Constituency.

The court in addition to this also awarded a cost of GH50,000 each against the petitioner for the respondents, Martin Adjei Mensah, and the Electoral Commission.