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prohibition of independent candidates, is deemed to have admitted the
position of the 1st Applicants.
In the circumstances, the Court accepts that there was no need for the
1st Applicants to go through the same local judicial process the outcome
of which was known. The parliamentary process, which the Respondent
states should also be exhausted is a political process and is not an
available, effective and sufficient
remedy because it is not freely
accessible to each and every individual; it is discretionary and may be
abandoned anytime; moreover, the outcome thereof depends on the will
of the majority. No matter how democratic the parliamentary process will
be, it cannot be
equated to an independent judicial process for the
vindication of the rights under the Charter. In conclusion, we find that the
Applicants have exhausted local remedies as is envisaged by Article 6(2)
of the Protocol read together with Article 56(5) of the Charter.
83.
Alleged delay in filing the applications
The Court agrees with the applicants that there has not been an
inordinate delay in filing the applications; because after the judgment of
the Court of Appeal, the Applicants were entitled to wait for the reaction
of Parliament to the judgment. In the circumstances, the period of about
three hundred and sixty (360) days, which is about one year from the
date of the judgment of the Court of Appeal until the applications were
filed was not unreasonably long.