The Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC) in its latest ruling, on a number of petitions from aggrieved members of the All People’s Congress (APC) against the conduct and outcome of both a number of the Constituency Executive elections and some of the rerun ward elections, has issued a strong warning to those members who are trying to use petitions to derail the party’s progress.
In its findings, the PPRC notes that, “most of the grounds canvassed by the petitioners are untenable and informed on misconceptions and inadequate information from the ITGC, on some of the issues complained of”. But the PPRC asked the ITGC “to do more in their engagement with members and aspiring candidates of the party”.
The PPRC states that, “Most of the petitioners were neither candidates nor were they delegates in the elections they petitioned. Most of them are prospective candidates for the upper cadres of the party and their petitions are mainly in furtherance of their electoral advantage at the next level and thus in most cases self-serving”.
Continuing, the PPRC states further that, “Some of the petitioners grossly misconducted themselves at the polls and then thereafter run to the Commission with frivolous petitions, on vexatious grounds. Their demeanor at the hearings also portrayed their violent disposition. For instance the petition from Constituency 121, where a candidate is on video smashing the ballot box, coupled with the hostility of the petitioner at hearings, clearly exhibited his disruptive tendencies”.
In a stern warning, the PPRC notes that “the Commission will not countenance any petitioner whose hands are soiled…[as] there seems to be a calculated ploy to use petitions to derail the internal processes of the party by some of its disgruntled members. The Commission will certainly not condone such conduct and will stoutly resist any attempt at using it as protracting platform”.