The re-collation of parliamentary results for the Dome Kwabenya constituency has been fraught with confusion and disputes between political parties, notably the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).On December 21, the Electoral Commission (EC) halted the re-collation process for both the Dome Kwabenya and Ablekuma North constituencies.

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The delay was due to the unavailability of pink sheets from political parties for specific polling stations in these areas.Dr. Benjamin Bannor-Bio, the Director of Electoral Services, stated that the re-collation process would be paused until the Commission decides on the next steps.Dr.

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Bannor-Bio mentioned that, in Ablekuma North, while the results from most polling stations have been re-collated, 37 polling stations still have unresolved results.He clarified that neither the National Democratic Congress (NDC) nor the New Patriotic Party (NPP) submitted their pink sheets for the specified polling stations. Consequently, the issue has been forwarded to the Electoral Commission for further guidance.

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The re-collation process for the Dome Kwabenya constituency was started to verify the parliamentary results, following the absence of some party representatives during the declaration on December 8.However, three polling stations were without physical copies of the pink sheets. As a result, the EC used the soft copies provided by presiding officers and later requested the hard copies for verification.

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The parties, however, stated that they lacked the necessary physical copies. As a result, the Electoral Commission halted the re-collation process to determine the way forward.Following an IPAC meeting on Saturday, December 28, the EC has chosen to proceed with the re-collation. Fred Tetteh, the Deputy Director of Research at the Electoral Commission (EC), provided an explanation of the situation.

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“From the IPAC meeting, a whole lot of things came up. The commission requested the parties to submit copies of their pink sheets. Some did, others could not. Others also wanted the candidates with the materials to be there.“We couldn’t wait for any candidate to appear and therefore we decided to come, and the NDC came with two copies of the three polling stations that they were talking about.

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The NPP said they remember about 11 or so that were flagged at the collation process and it didn’t end. We said okay then let’s come here and we continue the process."The re-collation exercise has been further complicated by the absence of pink sheets from certain polling stations, with both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) failing to provide all the necessary documents.

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This has led to disagreements over the number of polling stations with discrepancies and the validity of the results.Despite these challenges, the EC remains committed to completing the re-collation process. “The final decision rests on the commission,” Tetteh stated.The re-collation of results for Dome Kwabenya is vital for finalizing the constituency's parliamentary representation.

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The Electoral Commission (EC) has assured the public that all steps will be taken to address the issues and ensure the accuracy of the results.

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