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The collation of Dome Kwabenya polling station results at the Electoral Commission (EC) head office took a contentious turn as disagreements between political parties and the EC threatened to derail the process.
At the core of the dispute were conflicting claims about the number of polling stations requiring recollation and the validity of prior declarations.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, Mike Oquaye Junior, raised objections over alleged discrepancies in the collation process, citing irregularities in the handling of results from 88 polling stations.
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“In the dying hours of the collation in the constituency, just before the chaos erupted, there were 88 polling stations left to be collated,” reported JoyNews’ James Avedzi.
Mr. Oquaye argued that the NPP was excluded from the collation of 85 of these polling stations, which he claimed invalidated the subsequent declaration made without their input.
However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) countered the NPP’s claims, maintaining that only three polling stations remained outstanding.
The party insisted that the collation process should focus exclusively on these three stations, asserting that the rest of the results were valid as declared.
As tensions mounted, a meeting was convened to broker a resolution. After deliberations, the EC representative announced a compromise to move the process forward.
“It has been agreed that among the three outstanding polling stations, one result had already been entered on the presidential tally sheet. That polling station will be set aside,” the EC official stated.
The resolution stipulated that results from the remaining two polling stations would be collated and added to the final tally. If these results significantly altered the rankings, a rerun of the election would be conducted at the contentious polling station whose results had been prematurely entered on the presidential sheet.
This agreement temporarily eased tensions, but scrutiny over the process remains high. While the NDC continues to press for adherence to the initial claim of three outstanding polling stations, the NPP is demanding a thorough review of alleged discrepancies involving the earlier collation.
The development underscores the complexities of ensuring electoral transparency and fairness in high-stakes constituencies like Dome Kwabenya. Both parties and the EC face mounting pressure to uphold the credibility of the process and ensure that the final results reflect the true will of the voters.
