Stare Decisis and Judicial Outcomes in Pre-Election Matters

Abstract

In all common law jurisdictions,adherence to the principle of stare decisisis of great jurisprudential import. It assists in making judicial outcomes predictable.In recent times, there has been a consistent outcry over conflicting decisions of the Supreme Court in election-related cases among courtroom advocates.This paper aims to interrogate Supreme Court decisions in pre-election cases and find whether they are evidence of conflicting outcomes. This is with a view to providing some guides to court room advocates and to send a pedagogical message to the court.The methodology used in this paper is doctrinal. Certain provisions of the Electoral Acts 2006 and 2010 anddecisions of the Supreme Court based on those provisions are subjected to contents analysis.The paper finds that whereas there is considerable consistency in the court’s pre-election decisions between 2007 and 2009, there are clear cases of inconsistency in the decisions of the court from 2013 to date. The paper concludes thatexcept the Supreme Court reverts to adhering to the principle of stare decisis, judicial outcomes will continue to be unpredictable,and this will erode public confidence in the judicial system.