I’ll contest as an independent candidate if EC fails to ratify my party’s license – Odike

The founder and leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Akwasi Addai Odike, has bemoaned the revocation of the license of his party by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC).

He said that the EC’s decision to revoke the license of his party was wrong, and he has petitioned the EC to rescind their decision.

Odike, who made these remarks in a Metro TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb, also said that should the commission fail to listen to his petition, he will turn to the courts to get justice.

He added that if all the legal processes to get his party back fail, he will contest the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate.

“I have instructed my lawyers, the first letter (petition) has been sent to them (EC) to rescind their decision. We gave them seven days to rescind their decision. So, we are yet to know from their quarters whether they will rescind or they want us to go to court.

“I’m not perturbed in any way about this kind of intimidation because I’m indomitable… in the worst-case scenario, I will go (contest) as an independent candidate," he said.

The founder of UPP added that he is certain that the EC will decline his petition because the revocation of his party’s license is a vendetta against him by the government.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana announced the termination of the registration certificates of 17 political parties on Monday, November 15, 2022.

The electoral commission justified its decision in the national dailies by citing the party's failure to establish national and regional offices in the country.

The EC said its action is per Section 15 (3) (c) of the Political Parties Act 574.

Prior to this termination, the Commission on October 13 and 17 cautioned and urged affected political parties to fulfill the requirements of the Political Parties Act 2000, by submitting to the EC and their national and regional offices across the country.

See the full list of delisted political parties below:
United Progressive Party (UPP)
United Front Party (UFP)
Democratic Freedom Party (DFP)
National Reform Party (NRP)
Reform Patriotic Democrats (RPD)
Democratic People’s Party (DPP)
United Development System Party (UDSP)
Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE)
Yes People’s Party (YPP)
United Ghana Movement (UGM)
New Vision Party (NVP)
Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP)
Ghana National Party (GNP)
Power Unity Party (PUP)
People’s Action Party (PAP)
United Renaissance Party (URP)
United Love Party (ULP)

Watch Odike’s interview below:



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