Tema Metropolitan Electoral Officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), Ofusehene Asante Manasseh, has claimed that he was forced by senior members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to declare Ebi Bright as the winner of the Tema Central parliamentary seat after Saturday's election.

Mr. Asante said that both he and his staff were threatened with violence by NDC officials and their angry supporters, which pressured him into announcing the results in favor of the NDC candidate.

He explained the situation in a letter to the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, asking for the declaration to be canceled.

According to Mr. Asante, the NDC Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Nelson Rockson Defeamekpor, the Deputy National Communications Officer Malik Basintale, and other NDC supporters surrounded the collation center and forced him to declare Ebi Bright the winner, while threatening him.

"In fact, Rockson Defeamekpor kept threatening me throughout the collation process, and whenever I disagreed with him on a legal matter, one of their national executives, Basintale, began inciting their supporters, who had gathered and invaded the collation centre, chanting revolutionary songs," he claimed.

He further explained that even though police officers were assigned to protect him and took him to the Tema Regional Police Command for safety, Mr. Defeamekpor and Mr. Basintale brought their supporters to the police station and insisted that he announce Ebi Bright as the winner.

"My life, the lives of my officials, as well as those of the police and media, were at stake. I was forced to prioritize my safety over the legality" he said.

Under these extreme circumstances, he declared Ebi Bright as the MP-elect, even though the collation of results was not complete.

He explained that results from two polling stations had not been collated yet, and had these results been included, the NPP candidate for the area, Charles Forson, would have won by a margin of 55 votes.

"There are, however, two outstanding polling station results, which, when added to the collated results, would change the outcome of the election. It would make the NPP candidate, Charles Forson, the winner by a margin of 55 votes," he revealed.

As a result, Mr Asante has called on the EC chairperson to "nullify the result declaration."

After Saturday's election, Ebi Bright received 18,539 votes, while Forson of the NPP got 18,421 votes.

Mr. Asante requested that the results be canceled because he was not the official returning officer for the constituency – that responsibility belonged to a person named Kwasi Brobbey.

He argued that the declaration he made under pressure was illegal because it wasn’t made by the authorized returning officer.

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, has confirmed that she received the letter, according to Myjoyonline.com.