Section 318: Municipal Elections – Unconvicted detainee – Right to campaign and

318. Municipal Elections – Unconvicted detainee – Right to campaign and vote—The applicant, a candidate at the municipal elections, sought orders compelling the respondents to release him from detention, to enable him to hold press conferences, to vote and attend at polling stations in the ward and to be present at the counting centre on counting day. HELD (i) a candidate who is in lawful custody is not on the same footing as his follow candidates and is inevitably deprived of certain rights and privileges he would otherwise have enjoyed. The restrictions on applicant’s right to freedom of expression entailed by his detention were reasonable. (ii) a candidates presence at polling stations and at the counting centre was not indispensable and he could not appoint agents to act for him. (iii) the right to vote is not absolute. The applicant being in lawful custody was by virtue of section 44 of the Constitution not entitled to vote at the Municipal Council elections. Fakeemeeah v Commissioner of Police (2001).