Electoral Commission directed to de-register MPs

ByaseL · 2011-02-03T08:56:40+00:00

senior Constitutional Court official yesterday said all 70 MPs whose nomination was, in effect, declared to be invalid, null and void by the court must be de-registered by the Electoral Commission. The move would end their participation in the 2011 race for Parliament, two weeks to the February 18 polls. "The EC should de-register all the affected MPs if they (EC) are to follow the ruling…it is there for all to read," Constitutional Court registrar Asaph Ruhinda Ntengye told this newspaper yesterday afternoon. Mr Ruhinda also indicated that they would shortly deliver an extracted order of the judgement to the Speaker of Parliament, whose effect would be for him to evict all the MPs affected by the ruling. He, however, said whether there is an extracted order or not, the court expects the concerned parties to understand the judgement and act upon it. "An extraction order is just the gist of the judgement. A judgement is a judgement with or without the order because the former just summarises what the long judgement says," Mr Ruhinda said. On Tuesday, a panel of five judges chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Alice Mpagi Bahigeine, declared in a ruling, which now affects all MPs who chose to run for re-election on tickets other than the ones on which they were elected. The court indicated that the MPs should vacate their seats as provided for under Article 83(1) of the Constitution. Emerging from daylong crisis meetings over the Tuesday developments, EC spokesman Charles Willy Ochola last evening said the commission has decided to "consult the Attorney General and also wait for the Speaker to act". "The Clerk (to Parliament)has to write to the EC indicating that the said MPs have lost their seats ... but we are also trying to look at the eligibility of their nominations and if they can continue campaigning," he said. Mr Ochola said the commission's legal team would fully brief the EC today about their opinion on the matter. Wait for a minute Speaker Edward Ssekandi had yesterday morning pleaded to journalists that he was waiting for the extracted order before taking any action. "A member ceases to be here when he writes to me," Mr Ssekandi said. "Let us take our time and after I have studied the judgement and seen an extracted order, I will consult the Attorney General." Mr Ssekandi gave the example of former Mbale Municipality MP Wilfred Kajeke, who wrote to him seeking to leave Parliament mid-term

Thread starter ByaseL
Start date Feb 3, 2011

ByaseL

JF-Expert Member

Feb 3, 2011

Misterdennis

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