NPP agents abandon Akwatia by-election collation centre

Officers from the Electoral Commission (EC) are in the process of collating results from various polling stations in the Akwatia by-election following the completion of counting at the polling stations. Polls closed at 5pm.

There are a total of 119 polling stations in Akwatia.

The election in general has been described as peaceful with no major incidents at polling stations.

The two main contenders in the election are the candidates from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwame Asumadu and Bernard Bediako.

However, as of 7:20pm, officials and agents from the NPP side were not at the collation centre as was expected of them, while those from the NDC side were present.

As part of a convention in elections in Ghana and to help foster transparency and acceptance of election results, the Electoral Commission normally allows party agents to be present at collation centres to validate results either by confirming or challenging results sent in from polling stations.

A challenge raised by a party agent does not really invalidate an election result or prevent the Returning Officer from going ahead with the collation.

Before the collation started in the Akwatia by-election, some NPP party leaders and agents were spotted at the collation centre, but as of 7:20pm when there was an indication that the NDC candidate could be winning the by-election, no NPP official or agent was at the collation centre when the EC officers started entering the figures.