Chaos erupts at regional collation centre amid Okaikwei Central results confusion
Confusion has erupted at the Electoral Commission’s collation centre as both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) disagree over Okaikwei Central parliamentary results.
Both parties claim their parliamentary candidates have won the seat.
Hours after polls closed, the NDC’s Baba Sadiq declared victory, citing his collated figures showing he secured 21,303 votes (52% of valid votes) against NPP incumbent Patrick Yaw Boamah’s 18,951 votes (47.08%).
However, contrary reports from some media outlets projected a win for the NPP candidate, suggesting Patrick Yaw Boamah garnered 20,229 votes, edging out Sadiq, who reportedly received 18,783.
Addressing the controversy, the chairman of the NDC’s 2024 planning committee, Peter Otokunor, claims that there are attempts to manipulate the results in favour of the NPP parliamentary candidate by introducing new pink sheets at the collation centre.
“The interesting revelation we are seeing with Okaikwei Central is what begs questions and what requires the attention of the public. What we have seen is that there are certain polling stations that the Electoral Commission is bringing out that are inconsistent with the copies that were given to us, and it is becoming increasingly surprising because our opponents do not also have any pink sheets to show at all. They are saying that they are relying on that of the EC, and this is the catch.
“What we are suspecting right now is that if indeed our preliminary assessment is correct and there are inconsistencies in the pink sheets, the duplicate that we got, and the master copy, then it means that somebody has altered it somewhere and we have to deal with it severely. Whichever individual produced that pink sheet, the original for the Electoral Commission will have questions to answer,” he added.
On the other hand, the General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua, urged the NDC to go to court if it did not agree with the EC results.
“The issue is very simple; the body mandated to collate and announce results is the electoral commission. Let the EC do their job. After they have done their job and declared the results, if the party is not satisfied, they can go to court. How can you say that you will not allow the Electoral Commission to declare the results because NPP doesn’t have a pink sheet?”
Meanwhile, supporters of the NDC have massed up at the entrance of the Greater Accra EC collation centre.