Joe Anokye
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday displayed sophistication in its December 7, 2020 election results tracking to the admiration of many who watched television networks.
Led by IT guru and National Communications Authority (NCA) boss Joe Anokye, the NPP displayed on screen the meticulous tracking of the results from almost all polling stations countrywide to show Ghanaians how they came by their figures.
Bizarrely, their opponents, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) organised a series of press conferences to claim they were ‘flipping’ seats without producing any evidence to back their so-called bold claim.
It was reminiscent of the 2016 episode where they claimed they were in a ‘comfortable lead’ but ended up losing miserably.
Till date, the NDC has not been able to show its supporters in particular and Ghanaians in general the results the party claimed it collated in 2016 to project its ‘comfortable lead’ mantra.
In all their press conferences, they were not able to mention the results they had, only to say former President John Mahama who is their flag bearer was leading the presidential results and also claiming they had taken majority of seats in Parliament.
NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia even boasted that the NDC was going to select the next Speaker of Parliament.
Before the NDC General Secretary’s statement, the NDC had held at least three earlier press conferences through Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Sammy Gyamfi to claim they were flipping seats but kept changing the number of seats won.
NPP’s Work
However, when the NPP held its second press conference, Joe Anokye took his time to explain to Ghanaians how they came by their figures.
They displayed a power point in which a single click could take viewers to specific pink sheets for every polling station.
Flip Flop Mantra
The NPP earlier disputed claims by the NDC that it had “flipped parliamentary seats” won by the NPP in the 2016 general elections.
On Tuesday dawn, the NDC started their series of press conferences announcing a list of parliamentary seats the party claimed it flipped but said “our victory is not complete until the last ballot is counted and collated.”
The NDC Director of Elections, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, asserted that the party had “flipped Krowor” and explained that “flipped means this is a seat that was won by the NPP in 2016 and we’ve gotten it.”
“So, we’ve flipped Krowor, we’ve flipped Ledzokuku, we’ve flipped La Dadekotopon, we’ve flipped Tema East, we’ve flipped Adentan, we’ve flipped Madina, we’ve flipped Ablekuma Central and then we’ve flipped Okaikwei North. This is Greater Accra, so far, 18 and counting. I’m focusing on the flipped ones.”
He also went ahead to mention other areas including Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese as seat the NDC had flipped but it turned out to be untrue.
However, in a sharp response, the NPP said the party would still maintain a majority in Parliament and win the Presidency, describing the NDC’s claims as a “flip-flop.”
“We of the New Patriotic Party know that the people have spoken loudly and clearly, for which we are grateful. We also believe you came out yesterday in your numbers to vote to show who you know has the capacity and competence to lead this great nation on the path of all-inclusive progress and prosperity,” General Secretary, John Boadu indicated.
He noted that the NDC had proved to be “desperate and still are desperate. They proved this by centering their whole campaign, not on a vision or a message, but on blatant lies. Lies about the NPP, lies about President Nana Akufo-Addo, lies about candidate Mahama’s past failures as President and about his incoherent and blurred vision for our precious country.”
According to him, the list of parliamentary seats the NDC claimed to have flipped was inaccurate and contained seats the NPP had won and mentioned the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese Constituency as a typical example.
“Our candidate, Elvis Donkor has retained his seat. This is characteristic of the NDC, which made that infamous claim around this time four years ago that they were in ‘a comfortable lead’ when their candidate, John Dramani Mahama, had been comfortably beaten.
“When we came out in 2016 to show that we were winning, we did so with facts and data from the polling station results. Nothing close to such preparedness was obvious today at the NDC press conference,” Mr. Boadu posited.
He argued that the NDC, from the press conference, appeared not to have learned its “2016 mistake and incompetence.”
“It is obvious that they have no proper system of collation and relied on fake results and hearsay. The NDC was so unprepared that in the middle of the press conference, the speaker, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah had to rely on Sammy Gyamfi, to whisper his usual misinformation into Mr. Afriyie’s ear.”
The NPP General Secretary said the NDC needed to take Ghanaians seriously and check their facts before addressing the nation, intimating that “this is a serious matter about election results in creating insinuations which create a lack of credibility on our whole election process.”
He said the NPP’s 2016 win “of majority of 169 seats in Parliament was historic and the first of its kind since the Fourth Republic dispensation,” and continued that “we are happy to announce that for the next Parliament; it is obvious from the results declared across the constituencies that the NPP will still maintain a majority in Parliament.
“The NPP won 63 seats above what the NDC had. As such it is surprising that the NDC is insisting on a flip of seats. They do not mention the many seats they have flopped.”
“In the Savannah Region, where the NDC presidential candidate hails, they flopped and we flipped four seats. The NDC has lost Damango, Daboya and Salaga North in the Savannah Region. The NPP is now the majority party in John Mahama’s own region, controlling four against NDC’s three seats if you add Salaga South which we have retained. The NDC also flopped in Lambusi, a seat we have won.
“In the North East Region, the NDC has also flopped, losing Yagaba Kubori to Mustapha Ussif, the NDC has flopped in Yunyoo, losing the seat to Oscar Lawal of the NPP, and the NDC has also flopped in Chereponi, losing the seat to Abdul Razak of the NPP. In the Northern Region, the NDC has flopped to the point that, like Savannah and North East, NPP now has majority seats in the Northern Region.
“NDC has flopped and we have won Karaga, Tatale, Zabzugu and Mion. We now control three of the five regions of the North,” he stated.
Mr. Boadu added that the NDC had also “flopped in Upper West Akim in the Eastern Region for the first time. The icing on the cake is the historic NDC flop in the Volta Region, with NPP registering our first seat in the Volta Region, with John Peter Amewu’s victory in Hohoe.
“It is remarkable that the NDC at their ill-prepared press conference made absolutely no mention of the main prize, the presidential race. It is because they know it represents their biggest flop of all. They know that they have lost the presidential election. That is why they are running away from the figures,” he stated and continued that “we will refrain from declaring the results. We will leave that to the EC.”
Declared Results
The NPP Chief Scribe indicated, however, that from the results which have been publicly declared, collated and announced at the constituency level and also from the party’s own internal collation system, put the NPP candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the lead with 6,085,708, representing 52.72 per cent as at 2:15 am Tuesday.
He said these results were vetted, having received them into “our Situation Room here in Accra, the scanned pink sheet results from 34,040 polling stations nationwide, out of the total of 38,933 (including special voting ones). This represents 87.43% of all polling stations, with 4,893 outstanding.”
“With 4, 893 polling station results, still to go, with Nana Akufo-Addo leading John Mahama by 777,675 votes, it would take much more than the usual propaganda to flip this. Whereas we do not wish to declare that we have won the presidential race, we can confidently say that Nana Akufo-Addo has secured a clear incontestable margin ahead of John Mahama. We will, however, as responsible citizens wait for the EC to declare the final reports.
“As we come to the end of this election period, we call on well-meaning Ghanaians to exercise patience as we wait for the declaration of the final results from the Electoral Commission,” the NPP Chief Scribe appealed.
“President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP, from our projection collations, are on course for a second term in office and a majority in Parliament. We are confident of this and await declaration from the Electoral Commission, as is constitutionally mandated.”
He said “so far with the parliamentary results declared, we are the major party in Greater Accra, Savannah, Northern, North East, Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Central, Western and Bono regions.”
He called on the NDC to reverse the directive to their supporters to mass up at collation centres. Collation centres are not where elections are won and ballots counted, and added that they had some ten hours to get their supporters to mass up at polling stations up and down the country to vote for them.
“They flopped there and asking them to mass up at collation centres will not flip the results for John Mahama. What is done cannot be undone for Mahama,” Mr. Boadu stated.
By Ernest Kofi Adu