Yendi NPP Delegates Ready For Re-Run After EC’s Recommendation

New Patriotic Party (NPP) delegates in the Yendi Constituency, have declared battle ready for re-run of the parliamentary primary, following a recommendation by the Electoral Commission (EC) to the NPP leadership to organize new election.

Even though, the party is yet to announce a date for the new election, the seeming delay by the national executives to fast-track processes to break the deadlock created, is fueling tension among the over 785 delegates, as well as the rank and file of the party in the area.

Some delegates and party sympathizers believe, considering the division currently in the constituency, the only way out to achieve unity and boost the chances of the party to retain the seat, is for a re-run to be held in earnest to decide the winner.

No Autocracy

According to them, fairness must prevail to determine the actual winner of the primary, if only the NPP wants to retain the seat in this year’s general elections slated for December 7.

They insist, any attempt to impose a candidate on the people, instead of using democratic processes, will not augur well for the party.

“In the first place, there was no clear winner, so you can’t declare the election in favour of anybody without know that this is the exact number this person has gotten, and this is what the other party has gotten. So, for people to know that we are actually practicing a fair democracy, the election must be re-run for us to get a true winner. If we don’t go by that and you want to impose candidate on people, I think that is not a democracy…that is tantamount to an autocratic regime,” one of the party sympathizers said in an interview.

Another constituent who spoke on TV3’s News Central said, “I think they should re-run, because ask anybody they are confused as to who is the winner. So, if they re-run, we will know is actually the winner”.

The recommendation for re-run has become necessary, after the EC in a report, described the January 27 poll as “inconclusive” when counting of the ballots was disrupted when misunderstanding ensued between the camp of the two aspirants – incumbent MP, Farouk Mahama and the CEO of the Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah.

The EC, in the letter addressed to the General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Koduah Frimpong, dated February 19, 2024, recommended a re-run, due to the disruption during the counting.

The said letter, signed by Deputy Chairman of EC in-charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, among others said, “It is the view of the Commission that the election [in Yendi] be re-run since the counting was disrupted, thereby rendering the election inconclusive”.

The Anchor, has also gathered that, although leadership of NPP has set up a three-member committee to look into the matter and resolve same, the committee till date, has not invited the two for questioning.

EC Report

In the report submitted by the EC, the Commission, said the election at Yendi commenced at     7:00 a.m. and closed at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, 2024, with Farouk Aliu Mahama and Abibata Shanni Mahama, as the two contenders.

The report, said the election was supervised by the district electoral officer and assisted by five other officials of the EC.

The total number of voters on the register was 794, out of which 785 voted, with one rejected ballot.

The report said that after sorting was conducted, Abibata Shanni Mahama’s ballots, were handed over to one of the polling assistants for safekeeping and those of Farouk were then counted in the full glare of the public.

The EC, told the NPP leadership that, in the process of counting, a number of persons accused the polling assistant holding Abibata Mahama’s ballots of trying to invalidate the ballots in his custody with the ink pad in his pocket.

The people pounced on the polling assistant and beat him and the other election officials, according to the EC account.

“This disrupted the counting process and brought counting to an abrupt end,” the report continued.

“The Presiding Officer indicated in his report to the Commission that at the time of the disruption, he had counted 296 of the ballots belonging to Honourable Farouk Aliu Mahama. However, a video forwarded to the EC revealed that the number of votes counted, prior to the disruption, amounted to 226.

“The Yendi Constituency Parliamentary election was, therefore, inconclusive due to the fact that the counting process was disrupted. As a result, the Presiding Officer could not declare the winner of the election,” the EC told the party in its report.

Disclaimer

The EC, had earlier, in a statement issued on January 29, 2024, to distance itself from the purported declaration of the results of the Yendi polls.

The EC, told the general public that it has “not declared results for the Yendi constituency in the just-ended NPP parliamentary elections,” explaining that the counting was disrupted.

The statement added that “unfortunately, the destruction of 489 ballots, which remained to be counted, made it impossible for the Presiding Officer to complete the collation and declare the results. The Commission, therefore, disassociates itself from the declaration.”

Source: Anchorghana.com