General News of Tuesday, 23 August 2016Source: kasapafmonline.comEC finally concedes to Bawumia's definition of 'over-voting'Dr. Mahamudu BawumiaIn a surprising twist of events, the Electoral Commission, seems to have finally conceded to the definition of over voting presented to the Supreme Court by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, during the Presidential Election Petition but which was strenuously denied by the Electoral Commission led by its boss, Kwadwo Afari Djan and the NDC, which was represented by Asiedu Nketiah with Tsatsu Tsikata as its counsel. Speaking to the Press on Tuesday, Madam Charlotte Osei, EC boss disclosed that The Electoral Commission has redefined what over-voting should ‘mean’ for the upcoming elections indicating that the total number of registered voters would not be part of the equation for calculating over voting. The definition of Over voting was one of the most contentious issues during the Presidential Election Petition and ultimately contributed to the decision by the Court to reject the Petition. While the Petitioners, whose star witness was Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, insisted that over voting occurred when the total number of ballots in the box was more than the total number of ballots cast on the face of the pink sheets or the total number of ballots issued to voters, the NDC and EC insisted that over voting was only when the total number of ballots in the box exceeded the total number of registered voters at the polling station. Based on the definitions given by the EC and the NDC, the court rejected this call and the petition in general.

Source: GhanaWeb August 23, 2016 17:37 UTC