Convention People’s Party (CPP) has submitted an interlocutory injunction application to the Electoral Commission (EC), requesting the suspension of the Ejisu by-election.
The CPP’s objective is to delay the April 30 by-election until a lawsuit against the Electoral Commission, aimed at preventing Esther Osei from representing the party in the election, is resolved.
Emmanuel Gallo, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the CPP, initiated the lawsuit, stating that the party officially informed the Electoral Commission on April 18 of its decision not to participate in the by-election.
Among the six reliefs the party is seeking, it is praying to the court to declare “that on record, no Constituency Branch Conference of the CPP has been held in Ejisu and elected the said Esther Osei or anybody as a Parliamentary candidate for consideration and approval by the CPP’s Central Committee to be submitted to the defendant as the CPP’s Parliamentary candidate for the said Ejisu Constituency by-election.”
The party contends that any candidate purportedly representing the CPP in the by-election, particularly Esther Osei, has not been officially endorsed through the party’s internal processes as mandated by its constitution.
The CPP clarified that Esther Osei or any other individual has not been officially endorsed by the party’s Central Committee to contest in the upcoming Ejisu Constituency by-election.
According to the CPP, the selection of a parliamentary candidate for the constituency should involve the Constituency Branch Party Conference, followed by approval from the Central Committee, a process which has not been completed in this case.
The party asserts that no candidate has been duly elected through the established procedures for candidature selection in the Ejisu Constituency.
In its legal action, the CPP seeks a declaration affirming that the party’s Central Committee has not endorsed any candidate for the by-election.
The party is petitioning the High Court to halt the by-election until its claims and requests are addressed.