February 10, 2025

NPP in Tema Central Disputes Election Results

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Tema Central NPP rejects results

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has formally rejected the parliamentary election results announced for the Tema Central Constituency by the Electoral Commission (EC). The results announcement, which had been delayed multiple times due to heated disputes, eventually led to significant unrest at the collation center.

The collation of votes had initially begun on the evening of Saturday, December 7, 2024, at the Chemu Senior High Technical School in Tema. However, tensions escalated, and the process was disrupted by disagreements between officials of the NPP and the NDC, leading to police intervention. In the early hours of Sunday, teargas was used to control the crowd, and an EC official collapsed due to the chaos. As a result, the collation process was moved to the Tema Regional Police Command on Monday, December 9, where it continued under the supervision of Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante, the Tema Metro Electoral Officer.

The disputes centered around the validity of three out of the 148 pink sheets used in the vote tabulation. Officials from the NDC, led by Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, raised objections over these pink sheets. They claimed that the Presiding Officers at certain polling stations had failed to endorse the pink sheets, which made them invalid. However, NPP officials, represented by the party’s Constituency Chairman, Charles Boateng, insisted that these pink sheets should be included in the final tally, arguing that omitting them would distort the accuracy of the results.

After hours of tense discussions and disagreements, the EC’s Director for Tema decided not to announce the parliamentary results on the spot. Instead, the issue was referred to the EC headquarters in Accra for further resolution. This decision angered several NDC members, who demanded immediate action. Malik Basintale, the Deputy National Communications Officer for the NDC, rallied a group of supporters to march to the collation center, where they caused significant disruption.

The mob of NDC supporters destroyed canopies, overturned chairs, and damaged police barricades, demanding that Ebi Bright, the NDC parliamentary candidate for Tema Central, be declared the winner of the election. The situation grew increasingly chaotic, and the EC officials were forced to seek refuge in one of the police offices at the Regional Police Headquarters for safety. Media personnel and other officials were also forced to evacuate to safer areas as tensions mounted.

Around an hour later, the Tema West Municipal Election Officer, John Nunoo, emerged from the police office, escorted by leaders of the protesting group. He declared Ebi Bright the winner of the Tema Central parliamentary race, with 18,539 votes, narrowly defeating NPP’s Charles Forson, who secured 18,421 votes. Independent candidate Fredrick Aniagyei received 207 votes. The total number of valid votes cast was 37,308, with 141 ballots rejected.

This declaration, however, was immediately contested by Forson, who denounced it as an “illegality.” Forson argued that the declaration had been made by the Tema West Municipal Election Officer, who had no authority over the Tema Central election. Forson accused the NDC of deliberately orchestrating the chaos to force the EC to declare results that favored their candidate. He maintained that he had won the election, citing internal NPP analyses of the pink sheets from all 148 polling stations in the constituency.

Forson also expressed his intention to challenge the results in court if the issue was not resolved in a meeting scheduled with the EC at its Accra office on December 10, 2024. He emphasized that the results announced by the EC official were flawed and should be overturned.

The dispute in Tema Central highlights the intense political rivalries and heightened tensions surrounding the 2024 election results. With both parties at odds, the matter remains unresolved, and the NPP has vowed to pursue legal action if the official results are not amended. The public and political observers will be closely following the upcoming meeting at the EC headquarters to see how the situation unfolds.

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