Dome-Kwabenya: You can't punish voters with a re-run just because you recorded their votes on wrong sheet — Prof. Gyampo to EC

Professor Ransford Gyampo, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, has criticized the Electoral Commission (EC) over its decision to rerun an election at the Abokobi Women’s Development Centre 2 polling station in the Dome Kwabenya constituency.

In a social media post on Saturday, December 28, Prof. Gyampo described the EC’s move as unjust, arguing it undermines the will of the electorate.

“You cannot punish the people by asking them to go queue again to vote, just because they rightfully made their choice and you wrongfully recorded their choice on a wrong sheet,” he wrote. “This subverts the will of the people, and the EC must backtrack!”

The EC’s decision stems from an error during the collation of results for the Dome Kwabenya parliamentary election, where an official reportedly recorded votes on a training sheet instead of the approved statement of poll.

Background
The collation process, involving results from 367 polling stations, revealed discrepancies in three stations. The EC ultimately rejected one of the results due to the use of incorrect documentation.

Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, the EC’s Director of Training, explained the situation: “The commission rejected one of them outrightly on the stance that it was declared on a wrong statement of poll because they used training sheets, which is not the one that they should use. So the commission has rejected one, so we decided to come and add the two and see what happens.”

The rejected polling station result involves 669 registered voters. According to Dr. Quaicoe, the margin between the two leading candidates after incorporating the valid results stands at just 165 votes.

If the rejected votes were fully allocated to the trailing candidate, they could alter the outcome, necessitating a rerun.

The Dome Kwabenya race has already attracted controversy after NDC candidate Elikplim Akurugu was declared the winner, flipping a traditional NPP stronghold. Her victory, however, has been challenged amid claims of irregularities, including alleged tampering with pink sheets at the collation center.