Joe Ghartey
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) for the Essikado-Ketan parliamentary and presidential elections are the true reflection of the will of the people.
It has, therefore, dared the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to provide proof of the allegations of fraud to the appropriate quarters.
This is contrary to unsubstantiated claims by the NDC that the Essikado-Ketan constituency parliamentary election was rigged in favour of Joe Ghartey.
This was conveyed in a statement signed by the Essikado-Ketan constituency secretary of the NPP, Thomas Amoah.
Happenings
The statement noted that the EC’s certified results for the constituency showed that Mr Joe Ghartey polled 26,701 of valid votes cast while his contender, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah of the NDC, garnered 24,527 votes, while the parliamentary candidate for the Ghana Union Movement (GUM) polled 629 votes.
However, even before the EC could declare the results, the NDC and its parliamentary candidate went haywire with spurious and baseless allegations of alleged massive fraud. They had also taken to social media to declare themselves winners of the parliamentary election.
Giving an account of happenings during the just ended election, the release noted that: “We (NPP) had received unconfirmed reports that the NDC was seeking to rig the elections so we of the NPP were very alert on the day of the election.”
“Voting ended at 5pm with no serious incident being reported by our polling agents at the various polling stations. Counting was done at each polling station in the full view of the public and the result at every polling station was declared at each polling station. After this, the necessary documentation, the pink sheet, was duly filled and signed by all the parties present,” the release added.
Early jubilation
It continued: “Our representatives went to the Collation Centre of the Essikado-Ketan Constituency, which is at the Methodist Church, Brigade Hall, Essikado. The Electoral Commission Officials started receiving the ballot boxes and electoral materials from their officials who were coming in from the various polling stations.”
The statement pointed out that “at that time, NDC supporters led by their candidate Grace Ayensu-Danquah and other party members including a former Minister for National Security under NDC rushed to the Collation Centre claiming the NDC had won the parliamentary election. At the time we had not even collated the Presidential vote.
“Their members who were carrying knives and other implements started throwing stones into the Collation Centre. There was absolutely no basis for this commotion, neither was there any basis for the claim that NDC had won the Parliamentary election when the results from the various polling stations had not been officially collated and announced by the Returning Officer.”
Further recounting the events of the election in that constituency, the statement indicated that around 11pm the NDC parliamentary candidate and her team left the collation centre, having been repelled by the police and military when they sought to take over the centre.
The statement noted that the process was transparent that even three members of the NDC were present, including one Alidiu who presented himself as the NDC youth organiser, and a lawyer who said he was representing the NDC parliamentary candidate.
“We challenge the NDC to prove the allegations of fraud at the appropriate quarters,” portions of the statement said.
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