9/16/2020
NATIONAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION V AMOS SIEH SIEBO-MOTION TO DISMISS-FINAL JUDGMENT –
Conduct, is new and unfamiliar to many practitioners to
include NEC. To this, Respondent requests Court to note its
minutes of July 13, 2017 in the Karnwea/Liberty Party case,
when NEC responded to: “can you refer to the specific
law…?” question by the Bench; in which NEC replied,
“Section 2.10 of the elections law is evolving because, like
the code of conduct, the law is new and it has many
challenges,” which include traffic jam and others.”
At the call of this case for hearing on August 25, 2017, the
respondent/ appellant made a submission requesting the
Supreme Court to consolidate the motion to dismiss and the
appeal. As the movant/respondent interposed no objections to
the submission, plus the fact that this Court is obligated by law
to hear and determine elections cases expeditiously and without
any delay, the submission was granted and the motion to
dismiss and appeal were ordered consolidated. Pursuant thereto,
lawyers from both sides argued their theory of the case and the
reasons believed to be supportive of their respective positions.
The contentions of the parties, as culled both from the
records and their arguments before us, beg the resolution of two
issues, one procedural and the other substantive, deemed
critical to the determination of the instant proceedings. The
issues are:
Whether or not the respondent/appellant completed his
appeal within the statutory period as would vest jurisdiction
in the Supreme Court to hear and make a determination of the
merits of the case;
Whether or not the Board of Commissioners erred in
confirming the ruling of the Nomination Committee which
disqualified the respondent/ appellant from contesting the
October 2017 General Elections.
We begin with the first issue as same presents a question of this
Court’s jurisdiction to review the merits of the appeal. This is not
only because in order for the Court to determine the merits of the
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