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Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, has lambasted the Electoral Commission (EC) for its decision to rerun the election at the Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 polling station in the Dome Kwabenya constituency.
In a Facebook post, Prof. Gyampo described the decision as a punishment to voters who had already exercised their franchise, emphasising that it undermines their choice.
“You cannot punish the people by asking them to go queue again to vote just because they rightfully made their choice and you wrongfully recorded their choice on a wrong sheet. This subverts the will of the people, and the EC must backtrack!” he wrote.
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The EC announced the rerun after discrepancies emerged during the collation of results for 367 polling stations in Dome Kwabenya.
The issue stems from procedural errors, including the use of a training sheet instead of the official statement of poll at the Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 polling station.
Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, the EC’s Director of Training, clarified that the mistake led to the rejection of the polling station’s results. With 669 registered voters at the affected station and a margin of just 165 votes separating the two leading candidates, the EC justified its decision to rerun the election.
“If all those votes were allocated to the trailing candidate, they would surpass the leading candidate,” Dr. Quaicoe explained.
The rerun, which will finalise the parliamentary race, is expected to occur before the inauguration of the new parliament.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected the EC’s decision, insisting that its candidate, Elikplim Akurugu, had already secured victory.
“There was a difference of 1,154 votes. The voter population for that polling station is 689, so when you deduct 689 from 1,154, your guess is as good as mine,” said Dr. Rashid Tanko-Computer, the NDC’s Deputy Director of Elections and IT.
The NDC further accused the EC of mismanagement, questioning the credibility of its calculations and decisions.
“These people have issues with arithmetic, and so we will do the calculation for them. Elikplim has won the election, and we will not accept their so-called rerun,” Dr. Tanko-Computer declared.
The Dome Kwabenya parliamentary seat, historically held by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been a hotbed of contention.
The NDC’s initial declaration of victory was met with claims of irregularities, including tampered pink sheets and disruptions at the collation centre.
