The leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) visited the Electoral Commission (EC) office in the Techiman South Constituency, Bono East Region, to demand copies of the pink sheets and collation sheets used to declare the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, as the elected Member of Parliament.
The NDC alleges that the EC manipulated the results in favor of the governing NPP. Last Thursday, the NDC’s presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, reaffirmed his position of not accepting the election results, stating: “We are deploying additional teams of lawyers and senior party officials to assist our constituency officers.”
He also emphasized that the NDC would continue a thorough audit of all presidential pink sheets to ensure that the people’s will was respected. Mahama added, “These steps will lead to our next actions within the bounds of our democratic process.” He further cautioned the EC, urging them to adhere to Regulation 47 of CI 127, which mandates the preservation of election data for one year.
During their visit, the NDC team was told by the Returning Officer for Techiman South to go to the regional office to obtain the requested documents, which had already been sent there, including those for the NDC.
On Election Day and during the collation, the NDC raised several objections, which led to confusion at the collation center. This prompted an intervention by security forces. The NDC maintained that the results had not been officially declared by the Returning Officer.
However, the NPP has countered this claim by releasing a video showing the Returning Officer officially declaring the results, while some NDC members allegedly tried to disrupt the process by attempting to grab the megaphone the Returning Officer was using to announce the results. The video shows security personnel stepping in to prevent the disruption.
When the NDC officials from Accra visited the EC office, they were dissatisfied with the Returning Officer’s instruction to go to the regional office. They argued that, by law, the Returning Officer was obligated to provide them with the copies directly.
The NDC delegation at the EC office included General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, lawyer Kojogah Adawudu, Lieutenant Colonel Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), Baba Jamal, Collins Dauda, and others, all of whom urged the Returning Officer to provide them with the documents.
John Mahama also posted on Facebook about the situation, highlighting the intervention of security forces during the declaration of results in Techiman South and the NDC’s ongoing efforts to challenge the outcome.
