Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
According to Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party would not recognize Ernest Yaw Kumi’s election as the MP-elect for the Eastern Region’s Akwatia constituency.
On Thursday, December 12, in order to prevent the turmoil in other constituencies, the Electoral Commission (EC) shifted the collection of contested results in a few Eastern Region constituencies to the Police Training School in Tesano, Greater Accra.
Following the Police Training School recollaction, the returning officer proclaimed Mr. Kumi, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the victor.
Citing what he called “inconsistencies” with the findings on the pink sheet, Dr. Otokunor disagreed with the assertion.
He asserted that the NPP candidate’s polling station agents were missing their original pink sheet. He told James Avedzi of Joy News, “They have photocopies of what is considered the pink sheet; they don’t have a pink sheet at all.”
Dr. Otokunor went on to say that the NDC had no issues with the photocopied pink sheets until they realized that the numbers on theirs did not match those of the NPP.
Additionally, he asserted that the EC had compiled the findings without the NDC team present. “Unfortunately for Akwatia, our people ran a bit late, and they had to continue despite our objections. I called Jean Mensa and asked her to stop the process and give us two hours to arrive at the venue, but she refused,” he claimed.
“She actually said she would engage with the Commission and get back to me. When she called back, they claimed they had finished and had declared the results,” he added.
For Dr Otokunor, the declaration of Mr Kumi as the MP for the area is “illegal, unfounded, and non-existent. Akwatia is still standing,” Otukonor claimed.
For the Akwatia seat, he demanded a “proper” collation and a “proper declaration.”
Dr. Otokunor is still hopeful that the NDC will win the three Eastern Region constituencies whose results have been contested since Saturday.
The NPP has won 77 seats, the NDC has won 185, there are four independent MPs-elect, and other seats are still up for grabs because of disagreements, according to the available parliamentary results.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
