The Electoral Commission (EC) has disqualified Joan Cudjoe from contesting in the parliamentary election for the Amenfi Central constituency.
This decision follows a petition to the EC, which pointed to a pending interlocutory injunction preventing the Commission from recognizing Mrs. Cudjoe as the party’s parliamentary candidate.
The court order stated: “It is ordered that until the final determination of the matter, the affected parties are restrained as follows: a) The 1st Defendant/Respondent is restrained from holding herself out as the duly elected NDC Parliamentary candidate for the Amenfi Central Constituency.”
This was outlined in a letter from the EC’s Deputy Chairman of Operations, Samuel Tettey.
The petitioners also raised concerns regarding the authenticity of the candidate’s voter identification.
The controversy emerged after Mrs. Joana Gyan Cudjoe successfully filed her nomination forms, having been re-elected by delegates following the annulment of the party’s earlier primaries this year. She had to run in a second round of primaries after the party’s national executives nullified her initial nomination due to ongoing litigation.
A statement from NDC General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey, noted that the annulment stemmed from ongoing court proceedings at the High Court in Sekondi. Despite this, Joana Gyan Cudjoe was re-elected by popular acclamation in a fresh primary.
In its letter dated October 16, the EC clarified that the court order “has neither been stayed nor vacated, and the Commission is bound to uphold it.”
