Edem Agbana cannot suffer for the sins of EC; he is our Ketu North Parliamentary Candidate elect - NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) leadership has settled the controversy surrounding the outcome of the Parliamentary Candidate elections in the Ketu North Constituency of the Volta Region.

In last Saturday elections, the Electoral Commission declared a tie between Eric Edem Agbana and John Adanu.

Earlier, Eric Edem Agbana had been declared the winner with one more vote margin.

It later emerged that both candidates had a tie after a recounting of the ballots.

Since then, there has been a misunderstanding on the actual outcome of the election with talk of a possible re-election.

A Special Committee of NEC led by National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia on Tuesday, May 16, took up the matter and gave a verdict.

The committee found out that the EC is to be blamed for the misunderstanding. The committee subsequently decided that Eric Edem Agbana is the elected Parliamentary Candidate for Ketu North.

“The Committee's Ruling is that it is not fair that an aspirant will suffer for the sins of the EC.

“The initial result, that saw Edem having 360 votes and John Adanu 359 votes, in the view of the committee, is therefore authentic and valid.

“Edem Agbana is therefore declared as the PC elect for the Ketu North Constituency,” parts of a release from the NDC said.

The decision was taken in the presence of lawyers and agents of the two aspirants.

Below is a copy of the NDC release containing the ruling:

Press Release
EDEM AGBANA DECLARED WINNER OF THE KETU NORTH

PARLIAMENTARY PRIMARIES

A Special committee of NEC led by National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia today, the 16th of May 2023, met with two Ketu North parliamentary aspirants, Eric Edem Agbana and John Adanu. Present at the meeting were their lawyers and agents. Also present were the regional chairman and secretary as well as the Ketu North constituency chairman and secretary.

The committee made the following findings:
◦ The elections were transparent, free and fair.

◦ Sorting and counting were done successfully.

◦ The initial result saw Edem Agbana having 360 votes; John Adanu (359). ◦ No agent of any aspirant had any problem with the process until counting of John Adanu's votes.

◦ The Agent of John Adanu called for recount and validity of ballot papers. ◦ Two ballot papers each for Edem and one Tanko were declared by the EC as invalid, while 1 ballot paper for Adanu was also declared as invalid on account of the EC official having mistakenly not stamped them.

◦ Ballot papers issued tallied with people who voted.

◦ Ballot issued tallied with the ballot statistics and so there was no issue of over voting or electoral anomalies.

◦ The ballot papers that were not stamped by the EC were issued by the party election directorate and were therefore not deemed to be external voting material.

◦ All parties agreed that the said five ballots did not constitute foreign materials.

RULING:
The Committee's Ruling is that it is not fair that an aspirant will suffer for the sins of the EC.

The initial result, that saw Edem having 360 votes and John Adanu 359 votes, in the view of the committee, is therefore authentic and valid.

Edem Agbana is therefore declared as the PC elect for the Ketu North Constituency.

The party also took note of some unfortunate utterances made by Edem Agbana against some regional and constituency executives and ordered him to issue a public statement to retract and apologize to them.

Fifi Fiavi Kwetey
(General Secretary)