By Mohamed Jalloh
Judge Abdul Rahman Mansaray of Freetown High Court No 1 has cleared the way for both mayoral candidates of the All Peoples Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to continue with their nominations with the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
The Judge ruled that NEC must transfer the registration details of Yvonne Aki-Sawyer of the APC from Ward 396 at Regent to Ward 442 in Beach Road, Lumley and that of Raymond de Souza George of the SLPP from Ward 395 at Mount Aureol to Ward 433 in Brookfields respectively.
The Honorable Judge also said that all nominations must be completed not later than 20th January 2018.
This nomination saga saw the legal teams of the two political opponents become bedfellows by slamming a court injunction against NEC to transfer their nomination to within the Freetown Municipality.
Lawyer A.S. Sesay and Musa Mewa represented the plaintiffs and submitted that the court must judiciously expedite the matter because time is not in their favor as the stipulated deadline for the close of nominations is on Sunday 14 January 2018.
They informed the court that the purpose of the court injunction is to ensure that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) transfer their clients’ voter registration information to the Western Urban district and if it fails in such a duty it has defeated the very purpose of the existence of NEC as such act will be interpreted as a violation of the constitutional right to be voted for.
In his submission, the lead defense counsel for NEC, Lawyer D.E. Taylor, said the foundation of his submission is based on the fact that the exercise of the High Court, through court injunctions, must be based on judicial review mechanism.
He noted that there has to be a decision by a public body or an official of a public body which is deemed unreasonable and or the said decision must have been given in disregard to the principles of natural justice before a court injunction can be effected.
The ruling, by the Judge, means that NEC is under obligation to extend the deadline for the nomination of both the SLPP and APC Mayoral candidates, whiles the transfer of their registration is in progress.
The Judge ordered that, their process of registration must be completed before the 20th January this year.