The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced a rerun of the election at the Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 polling station in the Dome Kwabenya constituency.
This decision follows the conclusion of the collation for 367 polling stations, with discrepancies in three outstanding results necessitating further action.
Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Training at the EC, addressing the press on Saturday, December 28 noted that “The report from the returning officers was that they have concluded collating 367 polling station results. They were left with three of the results, and the three results were brought later.
“The commission rejected one of them outrightly on the stance that it was declared on a wrong statement of poll because they used training sheets, which is not the one that they should use. So, the commission has rejected one, so we decided to come and add the two and see what happens.”
“After incorporating the two valid results, the margin between the two leading candidates was just 165 votes. However, the rejected result involved 669 voters. If all those votes were allocated to the trailing candidate, they would surpass the leading candidate, prompting the EC’s decision to hold a rerun at that polling station.
Dr. Quaicoe confirmed the polling station in question: “The polling station’s name is Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2. We are sending our report to the commission, and then the commission will take the decision on when it should be done, but we are assured that it will be done before they are inaugurated.”
Background and Challenges
The re-collation process in Dome Kwabenya was initiated to verify parliamentary results after some party representatives were absent during the initial declaration on December 8.
However, the exercise encountered hurdles when three polling stations, including Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2, lacked the essential pink sheets required for result verification.
In an attempt to proceed, the EC relied on soft copies submitted by presiding officers and requested hard copies from political parties. Both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were unable to produce the necessary documents, prompting the EC to suspend the re-collation process on December 21.
IPAC Meeting and Final Decision
During an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on December 28, the EC resolved to move forward with the process. Fred Tetteh, Deputy Director of Research at the EC, highlighted the complexities:
“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.”
The NDC presented two of the three missing pink sheets, while the NPP flagged unresolved discrepancies in 11 polling stations. The inconsistencies left the EC with no choice but to declare a rerun at Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 to ensure the integrity of the results.
The rerun will be pivotal in determining the final parliamentary representation for Dome Kwabenya, where the margin of votes is tight and every ballot could influence the outcome.
The EC has assured all stakeholders of its commitment to a fair, transparent, and timely resolution of the election.
Mike Oquaye Jnr calls for re-collation of Dome-Kwabenya results
