Prof. Greenstreet (middle) addressing the media
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) says the results of the 2016 presidential elections as declared by the Electoral Commission (EC), headed by Charlotte Osei are accurate reflection of how Ghanaian voted in the polls.
According to the election observer-group, the official results announced by the EC for each candidate falls in line with their respective Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) estimated confidence ranges.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, polled 5,716,026 votes to beat incumbent John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who had 4,713,277 votes.
Nana Won
However, Professor Miranda Greenstreet, a Co-Chairperson of CODEO at a news conference in Accra over the weekend, insisted that CODEO’s PVT estimates are consistent with the official results.
She stated that “not only do CODEO’s PVT estimates match the official results of the EC, our observers also reported that the two main political parties-NDC, NPP had party agents at 99 percent of polling stations and that at over 99 percent of the polling stations both NDC and NPP party agents signed the official declaration of polls and were given copies of the documents.”
She argued that further evidence from CODEO’s PVT observers showed that voting and counting was conducted in accordance with C.I.94, the electoral laws and the constitution.
While commending other presidential candidates for conceding defeat, Professor Greenstreet urged Ghanaians to have confidence in the EC.
“CODEO advises the contestants in the presidential election, their supporters and the general public to place confidence in the official presidential election results as declared by the EC,” she stated.
The CODEO Co-Chairperson reiterated the need for political parties, their leaders and the entire political class to take adequate measures to address political polarization that characterized the 2016 election campaign.
NDC for Court?
Meanwhile, Abraham Amaliba, a member of the governing NDC Legal team, says the party may be heading to court to challenge the results of the 2016 presidential poll.
He claimed some irregularities were recorded in some regions, including the Ashanti Region, the stronghold of the NPP
Mr. Amaliba is reported to have told Joy News on Friday that the law governing Ghana’s elections is clear on over voting and the NDC will invoke it.
It would be recalled that at a news conference on Thursday, the EC boss said the Commission had failed to declare the winner because some presiding officers had not faxed their results.
She also said the Commission had discovered cases of over-voting in some constituencies across the country and wants to evaluate the results before declaring them.
But Mr. Amaliba said the NDC’s parallel tabulation points to President John Mahama’s lead.
“We have lawyers collating those pink sheets and will handle it at the appropriate time,” he said.
“In the same manner a football player who handles a ball to the penalty area is punished, the NDC will aim such sanction for the NPP.
“A decision may be taken either to go to court.”
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com