General News of Thursday, 5 May 2016

Source: starrfmonline.com

Supreme Court ruling vindicates us - LMVCA

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Pro-opposition pressure group ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ (LMVCA) has hailed the ruling of the Supreme Court describing it as a vindication of their position that the voters’ register is incurably flawed and not credible.

A seven-member Supreme Court panel chaired by the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, in a ruling Thursday ordered the Electoral Commission to clean the voters' register before the 2016 elections.

The court held that names of people who registered with the National Health Insurance Card must be deleted from the register but be afforded the opportunity to register again, if they qualify.

The ruling follows a suit filed by former PNC youth organiser Abu Ramadan challenging the validity of the current voters register.

Ramadan contends that the current register is compromised and cannot be used for the 2016 general elections.

He wanted the court to declare the register null and void and order a validation of all registered voters.

Addressing the media after the ruling, Convener of the LMVCA David Asante said the Electoral Commission must hasten the process to implement the ruling Supreme Court given the limited time to the November polls.

“The Supreme court has finally spoken on the issue of the integrity of the electoral register. And we believe this confirms our long held position on the matter that the register is incurably flawed.

“So we going to sit comfortably to watch the EC and how they are going to go about an interesting process. But we’re happy with the ruling of the apex court of the land,” Asante said.