Jinapor, Aubynn declared winners by EC - Oquaye, Afriyie, others to seek redress in court

The never-ending commotion that rocked some collation centres in the aftermath of the December 7 elections left a disgruntled Mike Oquaye Jnr vowing to seek redress in court after his request for re-collation of the Dome-Kwabenya parliamentary results was challenged by his opponent, Elikplim Akurugu, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

In the Ablekuma North Constituency, a similar drama was at play when Akua Afriyie of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and NDC’s Awurabena Aubynn were locked up in a heated debate over pink sheets at the Greater Accra Regional Collation Centre yesterday.

When it became clear that there was no end in sight in the deafening deadlock, the EC’s Returning Officer unceremoniously declared Awurabena Aubynn the winner without any figures to back the decision.

However, the NPP candidate protested vehemently against the decision, vowing to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.

Meanwhile, the violence that characterised the Damongo Constituency elections ended yesterday, with the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, retaining his seat.

Contention

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate for the Dome-Kwabenya Constituency contended that the declaration of Elikplim Akurugu as the winner was illegal since the EC official made the announcement in the absence of his agents.

Per the result declared by the District Electoral Commission on Sunday, December 8, after several disruptions of the collation exercise by some irate youth clad in NDC paraphernalia, Mrs Akurugu secured 51,634 votes as against 50,477 votes by Mr Oquaye Jnr — a difference of 1,157 votes.

Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Oquaye Jnr said the NPP won the election in the Dome-Kwabenya Constituency.

“We can say that we have won the parliamentary election as NPP in the Dome-Kwabenya Constituency. We shall pursue the matter at all levels, including the High Court of Ghana, for justice to be done,” he said.

He said the actual voting throughout the constituency was peaceful while counting at the end of voting was incident-free at the various polling stations.

He, however, explained that before the pink sheets could be scanned, an NDC mob stormed the centre, seized the pink sheets and fled, but the police retrieved some of the stolen sheets about an hour later.
 

Ablekuma North Constituency

 Although all polling station results were collated with 62 polling stations remaining, out of 281 polling stations, the Electoral Commission (EC) declared Ms Aubynn as the Member of Parliament (MP)-elect without official figures to the dissatisfaction of the NPP’s Akua Afriyie.

Yesterday’s re-collation was marred with chaos following a disagreement between NDC and NPP agents.

In the heat of the exchanges, the collation centre was besieged by the supporters of both parties who defied the heavy security presence, made up of the military, the police and the national security.

In an engagement with the media following the brief declaration, the MP-elect urged the incumbent MP to concede defeat.

In a counter-media engagement, the incumbent MP for Ablekuma North, Ms Afriyie, said the declaration was made under duress by the EC official and would not be accepted by her good self and the party, hence she would seek redress at the appropriate forum.

She stressed that she had won the election per the pink sheets she had and would not tolerate the action of the NDC in forcing the EC officials to declare the result in their favour amid threats on the life of EC officials. 

Damongo Constituency

After some nerve-racking moments in the Damongo Constituency, the NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, emerged as the sole survivor of a political tsunami that swept through the Savannah Region.

Following a serious challenge over figures, the certified results signed by the EC’s Returning Officer, Johnson Y. Akafia, at 8:06 p.m. last Monday saw Mr Jinapor, who first won the seat in 2020, garner 16,222 valid votes to beat his closest contender, Adam Mutawakilu, of the NDC who polled 14,425 votes, falling short by 1,800 votes.

The total votes cast were 31,069, with 356 rejected ballots, leaving the total valid votes cast at 30,713.
 

Violence

Prior to the declaration of the results, the Damongo Constituency had been one of the most tense areas as the supporters of the two major political parties claimed to have won the election.

The violence reached its peak when the office of the EC at Damongo was burnt down by some irate youth, leading to the arrest of scores of persons alleged to have perpetrated the act.

It is reported that two persons have since lost their lives, while 12 suspects have been picked up by the police in connection with the violence.

As a result, there is a heavy military presence in Damongo, the capital of the Savannah Region, to ensure peace and order.

In his victory speech, Mr Jinapor told the Daily Graphic that emerging victorious after the brouhaha that surrounded the elections was a wake-up call to work extra hard to justify the renewal of his mandate.

Mr Jinapor will be the only NPP MP from the Savannah Region in the 9th Parliament of the Fourth Republic, beginning January 7, 2025, after two of the three seats previously held by the party were taken over by the NDC.

Before yesterday, the nine outstanding constituencies were Awutu Senya East, Nsawam Adoagyiri, Akwatia, Suhum, Techiman South, Dome Kwabenya, Ablekuma North, Ahafo Ano North and Damongo.

Meanwhile, Samuel Duodu reports that the EC has assured the public that it is working with the security agencies and leadership of the political parties to ensure legal processes are followed in constituencies where the collation of parliamentary election results is ongoing.

The Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, who gave the assurance at a news conference in Accra yesterday, said this would help to bring an end to all collation in outstanding constituencies.

He cited the Ablekuma North Constituency in the Greater Accra Region where the collation of parliamentary election results had to be halted midway last Tuesday because of the presence of political party supporters.

He said party supporters threatened EC staff and coerced some of them to declare election results, but calm was restored later for the process to recommence.He further cited incidents at Dome Kwabenya, Tema Central, Ayensuano and Okaikoi Central constituencies where similar incidents were recorded earlier to buttress his point.

Mr Tettey, therefore, called on the leadership of political parties to impress upon their supporters who had besieged the collation centres to withdraw for collation in those constituencies to continue.

"The commission wishes the public to note that more than any institution, it would like to bring an end to all collation in outstanding constituencies," he said.

He said it was the resolve of the commission to ensure that legal processes were followed in a way that guaranteed that the choice of the citizens was upheld.

"The commission assures the public that it will in no way hinder the collation of results in the outstanding constituencies," he said.