The National Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has revealed that the party will not hold a re-run of the parliamentary primaries in the Ketu North constituency.
According to him, the party will regard the demands of the dissatisfied delegates as a request for reconciliation and cannot afford to organize fresh elections in the constituency.
“The National Chairman of the party was present, and the parties involved in the disputed primary were there with their lawyers. We then delivered a conclusive ruling on the matter, and Edem Agbana was declared the legitimately elected parliamentary candidate for Ketu North.
“As a result, any other issue will be considered a reconciliation effort because we are not even aware of any petition of this nature, and no such matter has been brought to our office. The party has moved on, and we are now preparing the elected candidate to win the seat.”
Mustapha Gbande
Furthermore, Mr Gbande emphasized that the NDC will not accept any attempt by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to engage in vote buying before or during the upcoming Assin North by-election.
Mr Gbande’s comments followed a group of concerned delegates in the constituency expressed dissatisfaction with the declaration of a parliamentary candidate by the National Executive Committee (NEC) without a re-run of the tied vote in the recent party primaries.
Following this, the concerned delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ketu North Constituency called on the top hierarchy of the party to conduct a re-run of the parliamentary primary, to avert apathy.
Ketu North delegates calls for re-run of parliamentary primary
According to the delegates, it was unfair for the NDC’s National Executive Committee to declare, Edem Agbana, the winner of the May 13th, 2023 primary in Ketu North, after the Electoral Commission (EC) declared a tie at the end of polls.
The group’s spokesperson, Enoch Amedegbe, lamented that the decision has caused political tension among the rank and file of the party, which if not addressed could cause the NDC to lose the 2024 general elections.
“What at all will somebody lose if re-run is conducted? We feel like the party at the national level is imposing a candidate on us instead of allowing the democratic processes to take its course and give us the opportunity to elect our parliamentary candidate and not to select for us. We the concerned delegates and loyalists of the party are stakeholders. We demand that the National Executive Committee looks at their decision again. Let the re-run be done for the delegates to choose the parliamentary candidate as declared by the Electoral Commission.”
Enoch Amedegbe
Mr Amedegbe stated that overturning the declaration by EC is not in the best interest of the party in the Ketu North constituency. Also, he stated that the rationale behind that unprecedented declaration is not in the interest of the whole NDC family.
Additionally, Mr Amedegebe indicated that the precedence sends a “bad signal” about the party and could affect it’s electoral fortunes in the 2024 general elections.
It will be recalled that during the NDC primaries, held on May 13, 2023, resulted in a tie of votes between candidates John Adanu Zewu and Edem Agbana, with both candidates receiving 358 votes after two recounts and the discovery of some unstamped ballots.
The electoral officials identified 3 unstamped ballots, 2 in favor of Edem Agbana, and 1 in favor of John Adanu Zewu, hence declaring them invalid and announcing, a tie and a rerun of the primary.
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