Ablekuma North: We Knew Our Candidate Had Won Before Going To EC

The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Frimpong Kodua, has criticised the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the scheduled parliamentary rerun in Ablekuma North.

He was emphatic that the party had already established victory before the EC even began its official collation process during the December 7, election.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, Mr. Kodua insisted that the NPP will not participate in what he described as a questionable rerun process, citing discrepancies in the EC’s handling of the collation and the destruction of electoral materials.

“We scan all our 281 pink sheets and collated our results. So before we went to the Electoral Commission, we knew our candidate had obtained 34,613 as against the NDC candidate, 34,199 – a difference of 414 votes. So we were very sure,” he stated.

Mr Kodua said confusion erupted not just at the collation centre, but across the entire process.

“Ballot papers were burnt at where they were kept in a school. We all saw at the collation centre, pink sheets being torn, officers being dragged from the Electoral Commission collation centre and being distracted from what happened over there.”

ReadAbout

It is possible to live and survive without being corrupt – Prof Bawole

NPP’s Amfo Sefa vows to ‘arm up’ for Akwatia

Peace Council condemns Ablekuma North election violence

He revealed that the EC, due to missing or destroyed documents, had to rely on pink sheets provided by the NPP to complete part of the collation process.

“So when we were doing the collation, at the point, the Electoral Commission didn’t even have some of their pink sheets because they were destroyed.

[embedded content]

“So NPP even gave out some of our pink sheets for them to also rely on. These were copies, not original ones, but copies are as good as the original because they come from the original, and they gave it to us.”

According to him, those pink sheets are still with the EC.

“As I speak to you, some of our pink sheets are with the Electoral Commission because they rely on it, and they wanted to keep it on record. And we went through all these processes.”

Mr Kodua questioned the EC’s decision to conduct a rerun in 19 polling stations, describing it as a reversal that lacked transparency.

“So, how come you have turned around and made a certain U-turn to run polls again in 19 polling stations?”

He argued that the NPP’s internal results reconciliation made their victory clear.

“We all know how collations are done in this country. After the close of polls, the presiding officers at the respective polling stations take the statement of polls…agents sign, the presiding officers sign, then each party is given a copy. That’s the pink sheet.”

He raised further questions about the EC’s announcement of only three outstanding polling stations when the violence broke out.

“So the first question we are posing to the Electoral Commission is, when was the collation for Gloryland Hotel done?… Conspicuously, the Gloryland Hotel is not part of the 19. So the question is, when was that collation done?”

Mr Kodua challenged the EC to explain how it determined that only three polling stations were left to be collated at the time of its announcement.

“How do you work to get to the outstanding three… How were they collated for EC to state that there are three outstanding?”

He emphasised that political parties are only witnesses to the process, not arbiters of results. “It is the Electoral Commission that does the collation.”

With the rerun now just days away, the NPP insists it will not take part and believes its victory was clear before the chaos.

“We knew our candidate had won before going to the EC,” Kodua declared.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

Visit Our Social Media for More