The Electoral Commission’s decision to suspend the declaration of the parliamentary election results in Dome-Kwabenya has been marred by controversy, with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, Mike Oquaye Jnr, alleging that National Democratic Congress (NDC) thugs destroyed their pink sheets.
According to Oquaye, the actual voting process throughout the constituency was peaceful, with counting at the end of voting being incident-free.
However, the situation took a turn for the worse when NPP agents arrived at the collation center at around midnight on December 8, 2024.
Upon arrival, the agents decided to take a second batch of pink sheets straight to the collation center to prevent further delays.
However, before they could begin scanning the sheets, an NDC mob gathered outside the center entered the place, snatched the pink sheets, and bolted.
The police intervened, retrieving some of the pink sheets after about an hour.
Despite the chaos, the EC District officer proceeded to collate the presidential results in conjunction with party agents from the NPP and NDC.
However, at around 9:00 am on December 8, 2024, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP flagbearer, conceded defeat in the presidential election, and the EC agreed to move on to collate the parliamentary results.
The situation took another turn for the worse when an NDC mob started chanting that John Mahama had won the presidential election, claiming that the parliamentary results were unnecessary.
The EC, however, proceeded with the collation.
At around noon on December 8, 2024, some of the EC’s pink sheets and materials needed for verification of results were in sealed ballot boxes at the EC’s District Office.
All agents agreed that the EC, with representatives from the NPP and NDC, escorted by the police, should retrieve the materials.
However, upon the arrival of the branded EC vehicle, the NDC mob set upon it, breaking the car’s glass, vandalizing the vehicle, pepper-spraying agents, beating the driver, and seizing and burning EC materials.
After the police restored calm, the EC officer led the continuation of the collation, with the agreement that missing materials would be dealt with later.
However, at around 2:30 pm, the first wave of the NDC mob entered the collation center, stopping the process.
The police intervened, but the NDC parliamentary candidate, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu, addressed the mob from the sunroof of her husband’s car, claiming she had won the election and that the EC had refused to declare her the winner.
The mob, numbering over 1,000, attacked the police, EC officials, and party agents, vandalizing the collation center and breaking materials, infrastructure, tables, chairs, machines, and verification machines.
The EC officials, sensing danger, hid all documents, and the police, the EC District officer and his staff fled the center.
The EC District officer later informed the NPP Constituency Chairman, Robert Osei Bonsu, that he feared for his life and would continue the process at the regional office due to safety concerns.
The EC has since announced a rerun at the Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 polling station after discrepancies in the results were identified during collation.
The NPP and NDC have traded accusations over the EC’s decision, with the NPP expressing concerns over the EC’s handling of the collation process and the NDC dismissing the rerun as unnecessary.
BY Daniel Bampoe