The Cape Coast High Court has today, 28th July 2021 declared that the election of Hon. Quayson as member of parliament for the Assin North was illegal, henceforth null and void.
The court was presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, who declared that the holder of the seat was in contravention of article 94(2) of the 1992 constitution and proceeded to declare same as illegal, void and of no effect.
The parliamentary elections in the Assin North constituency in the 2020 elections saw Abena Durowaa Mensah the NPP candidate pulled 14,193 votes and James Gyakye Quayson – NDC – 17,498 leading to a difference of 3,305 votes.
The court in its ruling further ordered for fresh elections to be conducted in the constituency.
In the Judgement, the court explained that, on the grounds by the Supreme Court decision in the Republic vrs High Court( General Jurisdiction 6), a person desirous to contest for parliamentary election should be qualified at the time the Eelectoral Commission issued the notice of polls. And that Hon Quayson filed his nominations at a time, he did not have the certificate of renunciation issued by Canadian authorities.
It must be noted that the certificate of renunciation was issued to the then candidate in November 2020 before the elections, the notice of polls came in October 2020. The EC headquarters then demanded for the certificate of renunciation from the candidate to authenticate his citizenship because a constituent lodged complaint at the EC district office and the matter was transferred to Accra. The then candidate duly submitted it and upon validation the EC allowed him to contest the election.
The court further restrained Hon. James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as a member of parliament for the Assin North constituency.