When officers from the Electoral Commission (EC) started the process of collating results from various polling stations in Tuesday's Akwatia by-election, following the completion of counting at the polling stations, there was no agent from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the centre, contrary to a convention with elections in Ghana.
There were a total of 119 polling stations in Akwatia and the EC officials had started adding up the results from the polling station to determine who won the overall.
The election was generally described as peaceful with no major incidents at polling stations.
The two main contenders in the election were the candidates from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwame Asumadu and Bernard Bediako Baidoo.
However, as of 7:20 pm, officials and agents from the NPP side were not at the collation centre as was expected of them, while those from the NDC side were present.
As part of a convention in elections in Ghana and to help foster transparency and acceptance of election results, the Electoral Commission normally allows party agents to be present at collation centres to validate results either by confirming or challenging results sent in from polling stations.
A challenge raised by a party agent does not really invalidate an election result or prevent the Returning Officer from going ahead with the collation.
Before the collation started in the Akwatia by-election, some NPP party leaders and agents were spotted at the collation centre, but as of 7:20pm when there was an indication that the NDC candidate could be winning the by-election, no NPP official or agent was at the collation centre when the EC officers started entering the figures.
Read also: Akwatia by-election: Final results
The Eastern Regional Secretary of the NPP was later seen at the collation centre at the time of the declaration of the final results.
At the end of the collation, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, won with 18,199 votes as against the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Solomon Asumadu's 15,235 votes.
The third candidate in the race, the Liberal Party of Ghana's (LPG) Patrick Owusu got 82 votes.
This now reduces the seats held by the NPP in Parliament to 87, with that of the NDC currently at 183.
If the NDC goes ahead to win the Tamale Central by-election, which the NPP has indicated it will not contest, then the NDC's majority in Parliament will increase to 184 seats.
There are currently four independent MPs in the 275-member House.
From the results declared from the total 119 polling stations in Akwatia by the Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), a total of 303 votes were rejected, with a total of 33,819 votes cast.
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh
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