NDC claims Sene West seat as NPP disputes declaration

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has announced that it has won the Sene West seat in the Bono East Region, in line with provisional results declared by the Electoral Commission. But the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is disputing the result of the count, the announcement of which has been delayed by nine days.

On Thursday (17 December) the high court in Wenchi granted a fiat for the contents of the ballot box from the Tato Battor polling station in Sene West to be counted, after the NPP had prayed the court to injunct the process.

The box had been snatched by one Christian Nukpeta during the 7 December elections but was retrieved. Nukpeta was given a three-month jail term and banned from voting in any election for five years.

Fomena sticks with NPP

After counting at the Techiman Divisional Headquarters of the Ghana Police Service, the returning officer declared that the NDC candidate had obtained 275 votes from the Tato Battor polling station (provisional result), against the NPP’s 148.

This brought the total figure from the constituency to 13,116 votes for the NDC’s candidate, Kwame Twumasi Ampofo, outstripping the 13,100 votes for the NPP’s candidate, Joseph Mackay Kumah.

The NPP is however challenging the 16-vote margin.

As it stands, the provisional result puts the governing NPP and the opposition NDC on 137 seats each in Parliament, with one independent MP who had already declared his intention to sit with the NPP.

The MP-elect for Fomena in the Ashanti Region, Andrews Amoako Asiamah, told the media that he would sit and vote with MPs on the majority side of the House.

“They [the NDC] were just trying to approach me to see the need of being on their side,” he said, “but I was frank with them that my constituents have told me that in spite of all that has happened with my party, they want me to be with the NPP, and therefore I’m here because of them [Fomena constituents].”

Vindicated

“So what they told me is what I’m going to do. So I made it clear to them [NDC],” Asiamah said.

Asiamah, who is also the incumbent NPP MP for Fomena, chose not to take part in the NPP primaries in Fomena after a rival candidate was selected for the seat. Later, however, he decided to stand as an independent candidate.

“I appreciated the effort of approaching me but I also … told [the NDC] that this is my position and it’s the position of the constituents,” he said.

Fred Dzakpata

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UPDATE: This story was amended at 5.10pm on 17 December to reflect the governing party’s decision to dispute the declaration of the count from the Tato Battor polling station.