Minority finally submits Techiman South petition to EC

A letter signed by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, to which the petition was attached, said: “… As you may be aware, the Minority caucus walked from Parliament to the office of the Commission in Accra to present the petition on the purported declaration of the results of the parliamentary election for Techiman South but was unjustifiably denied access by the police to the premises of the Commission”.

“We were informed by the police that an officer from the Commission was to receive the petition on behalf of the Commission. The said officer, however, failed or refused to come forward for the petition after several hours of waiting.

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“I, accordingly, write to forward to you the said petition attached to this letter and to demand your action in respect of the matters raised in the petition”.

Read the full petition below:

PETITION BY THE NDC CAUCUS IN PARLIAMENT DIRECTED AT THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO CAUSE TO BE PROPERLY COLLATED THE 2020 TECHIMAN SOUTH CONSTITUENCY ELECTION RESULTS WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO FURTHER INTENDED ACTIONS ON THE PRESIDENTIAL AND OTHER DISPUTED CONSTITUENCY RESULTS

Petition as follows;

1.              That the NDC Caucus of the current Parliament is fully aligned with the contention of our Flagbearer, H.E. John Dramani Mahama and the National Executive Committee of the NDC that the results of the Presidential Elections stands rejected and therefore we await further instruction from the party’s leadership in that regard.

2.              That we have received and studied a petition from our Parliamentary Candidate and winner of the Techiman South Parliamentary Election, Christopher Beyere Baasongti on the happenings in Techiman South.

3.              That in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections conducted nationally on the 7th of December 2020, the Returning Officer for Techiman South Constituency in the Bono East Region could not collate the results for both the Presidential and the Parliamentary candidates after the Polling Stations results had been counted and all Ballot Boxes sent to the Collation Centre in accordance with C.I. 127.

4.              That the Returning Officer delayed the collation exercise with the explanation that there were problems with the results of two polling stations out of the two hundred and sixty-six polling stations in the constituency.

4                That long after midnight, the Agents for the NPP candidate also raised issues with three other polling station results before collation could commence.

5                That the Returning Officer later announced a change of collation centre from the Community centre to the Ahenfie Hall in Techiman.

6                That at the said collation centre, the parliamentary candidates, their representatives and Agents agreed with the Returning Officer to resolve the outstanding issues relating to the five polling stations that were raised by the Returning Officer and the Agents of the NPP candidate.

7                That during the discussion, there emerged serious differences between the Agents as to how to resolve the outstanding issues.

8                That the Regional Director of Elections together with his Deputy advised the way forward in resolving the controversy. While the Agents were doing all they could, to resolve the issues, armed security officers in police and military uniform stormed the centre, drove off the Agents for the NDC candidate from the collation room and in the process brutalised one of them, leaving only the election officers and the NPP Agents in the room.

9                That the sight of the NDC agent, bleeding and moving in their direction, raised tension among the voters who were waiting outside to hear the results of the collation.

10            That in an attempt to ascertain what had happened to the agent, the aforesaid uniformed men opened fire indiscriminately, killing two persons on the spot, and injuring nine others, one of whom died a day after on admission.

11            That due to the state of insecurity at the centre, as a result of the shooting incident, the NDC Candidate and Agents had to advise the voters to leave the centre before taking cover themselves. No collation could have taken place that day in such circumstances and neither the NDC Candidate nor any of his Agents were informed or invited for the purpose of collating the presidential and parliamentary election results at a later date.

12            That to all intents and purposes, no collation could have taken place and no collation took place in accordance with the provisions of C.I. 127.

13            That your announcement of the Presidential results of the elections on the 9th of December 2020, as the Returning Officer, admitted this truism with the exclusion of the Presidential results of the Techiman South Constituency from the total tally.

14            That we are reliably informed by the NDC parliamentary candidate that, no collation of the results from the various polling stations has taken place since the elections ended at the close of polls on the 7th of December, 2020; yet a declaration purported to have been made by the Electoral Commission in favour of the NPP candidate is now public information.

15            That this omission amounts to a blatant breach of the provisions of C.I. 127 governing the conduct of the 2020 general elections.

16            That pursuant to Regulations 2, 3 and 43 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020, C.l. 127, it is mandatory that all results from all polling stations in the constituency at the end of the polls are collated at the Constituency Collation Centre before the declaration of same.

17            That the Returning Officer is required by law to use FORM ONE C per C.I. 127, to collate the results of the Parliamentary Election from the various polling stations and capture the results in the Parliamentary Election Results Summary Sheet, FORM ONE D of the Schedule.

18            That the Returning Officer is further required by Regulation 43(l)(f) to furnish each candidate or representative or counting agent of the candidate, a completed and signed copy of the Parliamentary Election Results Summary Sheets as set out in FORM ONE D of the schedule.

19            That as at the time of this petition, no such copy of the parliamentary or presidential results sheets has been furnished the NDC candidates or their representatives or counting agents.

DEMAND

20            That by this petition, we demand that you cause to be collated the Techiman South Constituency Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Results from all the Two Hundred and Sixty-Six (266) Polling stations in accordance with the law, with immediate effect.

21            That pursuant to regulation 43 (2) of C.I. 127, the endorsed writ, gazette notification and notice to Clerk of Parliament be amended accordingly to reflect the true state of affairs.

CONCLUSION

22         That this petition is without prejudice to further action we are determined to carry out in respect of the multiple Presidential Declarations and other constituencies in dispute.

Dated, this day, the 22nd of December 2020.

CC:

1.   The Clerk to Parliament

Parliament House,

Accra.

 

2.   The Chairman,

National Peace Council

 

3.   The Chairman

Christian Council of Ghana

 

4.   The Chief Imam

Office of the National Chief Imam

 

5.   All Political Parties

 

6.   Civil Society Organizations

 

7.   International Observer Missions

 

8.   Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO)

 

9.   All Media Houses