The National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) top officials have proclaimed Edem Agbana the victor of the Ketu North parliamentary primary.
The NDC’s general secretary, Fiifi Kwetey, asserts that Edem Agbana is the rightful winner of the contest that was initially deemed a tie.
Following a tie in the primary elections on Saturday, there was uncertainty regarding the two leading candidates, Edem Agbana and John Adanu Zewu.
After two recounts, the EC found three ballot papers that had not been stamped, overturning the initial declaration that Edem had won by a single vote.
In a post-election interview, Eric Edem Agbana claimed that despite opposition to his victory, he had received 360 votes as opposed to his closest rival’s 359 in the Saturday elections.
He explained that after the initial counting, a recount was conducted twice at his opponents’ request, but the results were the same.
“After that my agent signed the pink sheet which recorded the 360 votes, only for a challenge to be brought up about the validity of the ballot papers.”
“So they decided to check whether or not all the ballots were properly stamped. And according to EC officials after that check, two of the ballot papers recorded in my favour did not have the stamp,” Mr Agbana told the host Blessed Sogah.
He stated that additional verification of the serial numbers on these ballots indicated they were legitimate papers printed from the Electoral Commission’s booklet.
“It means that if these papers were without a stamp, it was as a result of either recklessness on the part of an EC official, or a deliberate attempt of an EC official to mar the process.”
“How do you punish a candidate or the voter for an abysmal job done by an EC official? There is a winner in Ketu North and the winner is Edem Agbana.”
The NDC delegates in Ketu North had to choose on Saturday between eight candidates who would stand in for them in the general election of 2024.
Edem Agbana and his team started celebrating after the initial vote count after defeating his rival by one vote.
