NPP - The Vote Is Stolen

As President John Dramani Mahama was conducting his victory rally at the Obra Spot, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra yesterday, to officially put the presidential and parliamentary elections to a rest, the temperature at the camp of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was heating to boiling point.

The NPP issued what it called a summary from the ‘Red Sheet’ of collated figures from the presidential election in 10 constituencies, indicating that President Mahama was fraudulently credited with as many as 52,483 votes from nowhere.

“The verdict is stolen,” an official of the party told The Chronicle in Accra, yesterday.

The party claimed that in the Tamale South Constituency for instance, a figure of 53,536 was credited to the National Democratic Congress candidate, while the actual votes recorded in the name of the transitional president was 57,832, an excess of 15,704 votes.

In the Lower Manya Krobo constituency in the Eastern Region, bungling officials of the Electoral Commission awarded the NDC candidate an extra 6,663 votes he did not earn, the NPP claimed.

According to tally figures made available to the media, the President polled 23,520 votes, but was fraudulently credited with a figure of 30,183.

According to figures put out by the largest opposition party, candidate Mahama actually registered 10,519 votes in the Techiman North Constituency. Somehow, the figure was inflated to read 16,329, an excess of 5,810.

In the Yilo Krobo Constituency, the President was credited with 29,300 instead of his actual figure of 21,772, thereby receiving an extra vote of 7,528.

In Akropong in the Eastern Region, President Mahama was given 5,751 votes he did not earn. The official Red Sheet, according to the NPP, recorded 9,638 in the name of the NDC candidate. Somehow the figure was inflated to read 15,389 in the final tally.

According to the NPP, President Mahama was given an extra 1,268 votes he did not earn from the elections in the Berekum West Constituency. The actual vote, according to the NPP document, was 7,823. Somehow the figure ballooned to 9,091.

In Kintampo South, President Mahama secured 12,890, but an inflationary figure of 16,488 was recorded, giving the President extra votes of 3,555 he did not earn. A figure of 19,128 was entered in the name of candidate Mahama in the Upper West Akim, while he actually polled 15,540 in the constituency.

President Mahama recorded 7,550 in Wassa Mpohor Constituency. This figure was bloated to 7,955, while in the Yendi Constituency, the figure of 20,658 recorded in the name of the NDC Presidential candidate was changed to read 21,668, an excess of 1,010.

In the same constituency, a vote of 27,678 recorded by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was changed to read 26,984, a decrease of 689.

This paper learned that the NPP would release further lists of cooked figures to bolster the party’s claim that the 2012 presidential and parliamentary election results so far released, “is a Stolen Verdict.”

The Chronicle learned yesterday that the NPP leadership would meet today to decide on its next line of action. But this paper can report authoritatively that the NPP is heading for the courts.

Sources at the party headquarters in Accra told The Chronicle yesterday, that when the leadership met the Electoral Commission on Sunday, the NPP was told that the only option available to the party was to head for court.

The Chronicle learned yesterday that the party was also considering the option of boycotting Parliament if the chips were down. That is not official though.

Yesterday, thousands of party supporters massed up in front of the residence of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, singing and chanting. In the opinion of followers of the party, their presidential candidate won the vote on Friday, December 7.

Akosua Puni And Michael Essien

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