The re-collation of parliamentary results for the Dome Kwabenya constituency has been marred by confusion and disagreements among political parties (thus the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party).
On December 21, the EC suspended the re-collation of results for the Dome Kwabenya and Ablekuma North constituencies, attributing the delay to the absence of pink sheets from political parties for certain polling stations in the two constituencies.
According to the Director of Electoral Services, Dr Benjamin Bannor-Bio, the re-collation process was to remain on hold until the Commission determines the way forward.
In the case of Ablekuma North, Dr Bannor-Bio noted that while results from most polling stations have been re-collated, about 37 polling stations remain unresolved.
He explained that both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) failed to present their pink sheets for these polling stations. As a result, the matter has been referred to the Electoral Commission for further directives.
For the Dome Kwabenya constituency, the re-collation process was initiated to verify parliamentary results, as some party representatives were absent during the declaration on December 8.
However, three polling centres lacked hard copies of the pink sheets. In response, the EC relied on soft copies submitted by presiding officers and subsequently requested hard copies for verification.
The parties, however, indicated that they did not possess the required hard copies. Consequently, the EC paused the re-collation process to decide on the next steps.
But after an IPAC meeting today, December 28, the EC decided to go ahead with the re-collation.
Fred Tetteh, the Deputy Director of Research at the Electoral Commission (EC), explained the situation: “From the IPAC meeting, a whole lot of things came up. The commission requested the parties to submit copies of their pink sheets. Some did, others could not. Others also wanted the candidates with the materials to be there.
“We couldn’t wait for any candidate to appear and therefore we decided to come, and the NDC came with two copies of the three polling stations that they were talking about. The NPP said they remember about 11 or so that were flagged at the collation process and it didn’t end. We said okay then let’s come here and we continue the process.”
The re-collation exercise has been further complicated by the absence of pink sheets from certain polling stations, with both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) failing to provide all the necessary documents. This has led to disagreements over the number of polling stations with discrepancies and the validity of the results.
Despite these challenges, the EC remains committed to completing the re-collation process. “The final decision rests on the commission,” Tetteh stated.
The re-collation of results for Dome Kwabenya is crucial in determining the final parliamentary representation for the constituency. The EC has assured the public that all necessary measures will be taken to resolve the issues and provide accurate results.
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