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Ghana court dismisses suit against electoral body over filing fees

Xinhua, October 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

A high court in Accra Friday dismissed a suit filed against the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) over the filing fees for presidential and parliamentary nominees for the 2016 general election.

The EC has asked each presidential candidate to pay a filing fee of 50,000 Ghana Cedis (about 12,560 U.S. dollars) and each parliamentary candidate 10,000 Ghana Cedis (about 2,512 dollars).

The Progressive People's Party (PPP) sued the EC last month over the fee which it described as "discriminatory, arbitrary and unreasonable".

The PPP said although it was not only seeking a reduction in the fees, it also wanted a law to be put in place by which the EC would fix filing fees rather than the current situation where the fees were set "arbitrarily".

The court said its reasons for dismissing the case would be given at a later date.

The court's decision will pave the way for the EC to receive the filing fees from presidential and parliamentary candidates and to subsequently announce the candidates eligible to contest the elections.

So far, 17 presidential aspirants have submitted nomination forms to contest the election scheduled for December 7. Endit