The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has debunked rumors of an arrested EC official at Somanya in the Eastern Region for allegedly reducing votes polled by former President Mahama by over 3000 in the just-ended election.
The Commission through a press release dated 14th December 2020 stated that “the attention of the Electoral Commission has been drawn to social media reports alleging that an EC Official has been arrested in Somanya within the Eastern Region in Ghana.
“The fake news further goes ahead to claim that the said EC Official was arrested for reducing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Candidate’s votes by 3,000.
“We wish to state that this is FALSE. The public is therefore urged to disregard this fake news.”
This release has caused some mixed reactions in a section of the citizenries as some say the release is a charade by the Commission in an attempt to draw the attention of Ghanaians from the facts of the report.
On the other hand, another section of the public is also asserting that the report is an effort from the main opposition NDC to discredit the work of the Commission because it lost the presidential race.
All the same, the Electoral Commission has been under a lot of public backlash and scrutiny as the presidential candidate of the NDC, John Mahama disclosed that he is not going to accept the declared results of the presidential election by the EC. He said his inability to accept the results is because he believes the results are “fictionalized result of a flawed election.”
Riding of this statement by candidate Mahama, there has been a lot of public debate and protest about the authenticity of the declared presidential result of the 2020 presidential election. These debates have also consequentially dragged the credibility of the Electoral Commission along with some questioning its neutrality.
In the past week, there have been several demonstrations across the country by supporters of the NDC demanding that the EC declares “the actual” results with which their candidate won the election.
The women’s wing of the party in the Greater Accra Region took to the street on Saturday to reaffirm its support for candidate Mahama in rejecting the results of the presidential election.
Subsequently, NDC supporters in Ashiaman also took to the street to also register their rejection of the declared presidential results. This protest was characterized by burning of car tires in the middle of the roads. Similar incident also happened in the Upper East Regional Capital, Bolgatanga some 4 days ago.
The National Democratic Congress is to embark on a street protest dubbed “Nationwide Street Protest” to emphasize its rejection of the declared presidential results.
The Member of Parliament for Temale North on the ticket of the NDC, Alhassan Suhuyini has also noted that, the party is ready to put all available constitutional options to use in resisting what he termed as “falsified presidential results.”
The NDC has also made its intentions known to seek redress in court but as of now, no legal action has been reported.
