Politics of Sunday, 22 December 2024

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

We are auditing election 2024 results; NDC rigged – Afenyo-Markin

Majority Leader of Parliament Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin Majority Leader of Parliament Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin

Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of rigging the 2024 general elections.

According to him, the rigging scheme of the NDC resulted in the opposition party winning the election by a significant margin, including in the parliamentary elections.

“We are auditing other constituencies. I know we have lost the elections, and I concede to that, but the magnitude we are seeing is not the reality. From the little I saw at the collation center, they [the NDC] rigged us,” he stated during an interview on Osampa FM.

Afenyo-Markin, who was responding to the NDC’s criticism of the Electoral Commission’s decision to re-collate the results for some parliamentary seats, disclosed that his party is undertaking an audit of the 2024 elections.

“At the right time. We are auditing the results constituency-by-constituency, and that is what has caused them to panic and react the way they are reacting. At the right time, the NPP will come out with a report,” he said.

He cited the Aowin Constituency as an example of such a constituency where the NDC rigged the elections.

“In a place like Aowin, the NPP candidate there won. They sacked three of our polling agents; they were beaten and sacked. Then they manufactured polling agents for him, and even after all that, the NDC candidate won by just 92 votes. That is not even part of this; other audits are being done, which we will address at the right time,” he said.

Following a recent court ruling, the Electoral Commission resumed the collation of results for some nine disputed constituencies in the December 7 elections.

After the exercises on Saturday, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidates in seven respective constituencies were declared winners.

Four seats, which were initially declared for the NDC, namely Obuasi East, Okaikwei Central, Tema Central, and Techiman South, were re-declared in favour of the NPP.

The Obuasi East seat, which was initially declared for NDC’s Samuel Aboagye, was re-declared for NPP’s Patrick Boakye-Yiadom; the Tema Central seat, which was declared for NDC’s Ebi Bright, was re-declared for NPP’s Charles Forson.

Also, the Techiman South seat was re-declared for NPP’s Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah after it had been initially declared for Christopher Beyere Baasongti, and the Okaikwei Central seat was re-declared for NPP’s Dr. Patrick Boamah after it was initially declared for NDC’s Baba Sadiq.

The Nsawam Adoagyiri, Ahafo Ano South West, and Ahafo Ano North constituencies, which were initially incomplete, were also declared in favour of the NPP’s Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh, and Elvis Osei Mensah Dapaah, respectively.

Two constituencies - Ablekuma North and Dome Kwabenya - are, however, yet to be determined.

For the Ablekuma North Constituency, NDC’s Ewurabena Aubynn was declared the winner of the constituency’s seat without the results of 62 polling stations.

The NPP’s candidate for the constituency is Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh, a former MP and the current Deputy Chief Executive of the Coastal Development Authority.

For Dome Kwabenya, NDC’s Elikplim Akurugu was declared the winner of the constituency’s seat, beating NPP’s Mike Oquaye Jnr.

With the declaration of seven out of the nine outstanding constituencies, the composition of the parliamentary results as declared by the Electoral Commission is as follows:

• NPP (New Patriotic Party): 89 seats

• NDC (National Democratic Congress): 181 seats

• Independents: 4 seats

This leaves two seats still pending from Dome Kwabenya and Ablekuma North, bringing the total number of seats declared to 274 out of 276 in the House.

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