The Electoral Commission (EC) has decided to re-run the parliamentary election at one polling station in the Dome Kwabenya constituency in the Greater Accra Region.

This is following a disagreement over the declaration of the results from the said polling station, that is the Abokobi Women's Development Training Centre on a wrong declaration form [pink sheet].

The results was filled on a training declaration form instead of the original one, and so because of that, the results from that particular polling station has been rejected on grounds of irregularity.

When polls closed on December 7, 2024 at the Dome Kwabenya constituency, the collation of the parliamentary results was disrupted and led to the destruction of some of the hard copy documents - declaration forms [pink sheets].

There are a total of 367 polling stations in the Dome Kwabenya constituency.

When the EC met to resolve the issues, three of the hard copy declaration forms [pink sheets] containing the results from three polling stations were missing. There were however soft copies available as some of the candidates had scanned them before the destruction as a result of the disruption of the process.

However, when the EC was finally able to resolve the issues and the three polling station results were provided, one of them was detected to have been declared on the wrong pink sheet, that is the declaration form meant for training of presiding officers instead of the actual declaration form.

When the results from the two remaining polling stations were added, it showed a difference of 165 votes, with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate, Elikplim Akurugu leading that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Mike Oquaye Jnr.

The polling station that the results has been rejected, that is the Abokobi Women's Development Training Centre has a total voter population of about 665.

According to the Electoral Commission, assuming if all the votes were to be declared for the NPP candidate, the results will change considering the difference of 165 votes and therefore the need to re-run the election in that particular polling station alone.

According to the Director of Training at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, the commission was going to meet to determine when to re-run that election at the polling station.

“The report from the returning officers indicated that they had completed collating results from 367 polling stations. They later received results from the remaining three, but one was rejected because it was declared on the wrong sheet, a training sheet, which is not valid for official purposes,” Dr Quaicoe explained.

"Upon adding the valid results from the other two polling stations to the existing tally, the margin between the two leading candidates narrowed to just 165 votes. The rejected polling station, Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2.., If all those votes were allocated to the second-place candidate, it would change the outcome of the election," he added.

This situation necessitates a rerun at that polling station to determine the final results for the Dome Kwabenya constituency.

“We will send our report to the Commission, which will decide on the date for the rerun. However, I can assure you that it will be conducted before the inauguration of Members of Parliament,” Dr Quaicoe added.

NDC rejects decision to re-run

Meanwhile, the NDC is opposing the decision to re-run that particular polling station, claiming their candidate, Elikplim Akurugu has won and that the EC's calculation was wrong.

According to Rashid Tanko-Computer, Deputy Director of Elections and IT at the NDC, their calculation shows that their candidate has won by a clear margin, different from what the commission was putting up.

He has said the NDC will redo the calculation and prove it to the EC arguing that the EC has "a problem with their arithmetic..., we are going to do the calculation and bring it back, we told them, they should hold their horses, we have been doing the calculation ourselves, our opponents also pick one, they should also go and enter, simple excel sheet. She [Elikplim] has won.

Tanko-Computer insisted the EC has a problem with their arithmetic, "it is their own document, you remember when we did the registration, they were doing the wrong calculations, coral draw people," he said.