The Electoral Commission in the Ashanti Region has snubbed claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it inflated the presidential votes in favour of President Akufo-Addo.
According to the EC, it is not surprised at the outbursts of the NDC. The NDC alleged that the EC bloated the figures of their political opponents, especially in the Ashanti Region.
They accused the EC of collating figures higher than what was recorded at the regional collation centre to push the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The opposition NDC further alleged that the number of votes obtained by President Akufo-Addo had jumped from 1.4 million to over 1.7 million at the national collation center.
But in an interview, the Ashanti Regional EC Director, Benjamin Bannor-Bio insisted the NPP’s Presidential candidate polled 1.7 million votes in the region.
According to him, the elections could not have been rigged to favor any candidate given the transparency of the polls.
“With these transparent and verifiable processes, there is no way anyone can do anything to affect the results… In the Ashanti Region, nothing untoward happened. If someone is talking about figures being inflated, I don’t know where it’s coming from.
“What I remember is that they (NDC)raised an issue with Adansi-Asokwa constituency that the figure that they collated is not what we announced. So I asked them to come out with their pink sheet.
They said they didn’t have it and that someone was bringing it. If it is now that they are bringing it, I don’t know,” Mr. Bannor-Bio said.
“Meanwhile, their agents had signed all the documents… The agents’ refusal to sign the results does not invalidate the results. Losers always complain and that’s how we see it,” he explained further.
In related news, the Electoral Commission has released the official number of parliamentary seats won by NPP and NDC.
According to the EC, the NPP has won a total of 137 while the NDC has won 136 with one independent candidate winning the Fomena seat in the Ashanti Region.
