Jean Mensa blames NDC, NPP for disrupting re-collation process

Ghana's Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa, has condemned the disruption of the parliamentary results collation process in 12 outstanding constituencies, blaming political parties for the chaos.

At a press confrence on Dec 19, she stated that the commission had attempted to re-collate the results in a secure location, the Police Training Centre at Tesano, but the process was again disrupted by supporters and leaders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mensa revealed that in some constituencies, winners were declared without following due process, citing the examples of Okaikwei Central and Ablekuma North, where results from 31 and 62 polling stations, respectively, were not collated before the declarations were made.

The affected constituencies include Dome Kwabenya, Techiman South, Suhum, Akwatia, Fanteakwa North, Ahafo Ano North, and Tema Central.

Mensa emphasized that the declarations made under duress would not be recognized by the commission, stressing that the integrity of the electoral process must be upheld.

“Our collation centres were once again disrupted and taken over by political party leaders and supporters and results were declared for those constituencies without due process being followed. In the case of Okaikwei Central, a winner was declared without any collating results from 31 polling stations,'' she stated.

“In the case of the Ablakuma North constituency, a winner was declared without collating results from 62 pooling stations. This is unacceptable. It is important to note that the declarations made by our staff were made under threat and the commission considers this illegal. Those declarations as well as others that have gone on in other constituencies will not be upheld by the commission,” she added.

Source: Lead News Online