2016 elections: ‘We were witch-hunting EC for the better’ – NPP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has admitted the party witch-hunted the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, but has said it was for a good cause.

The Campaign Manager of the NPP during the 2016 campaign, Peter Mac Manu, told Class FM’s Kwesi Parker-Wilson on Wednesday May 24 after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting: “We were witch-hunting for the better.”

He explained that there were some lapses which needed to be addressed hence their action.

“The Special Voting did not go well, the results declaration was not apt because we finished the elections on 7th December at 5pm and the next major item on the process was results declaration, but the EC came out and met the media four consecutive times and never mentioned any results. What happened to progressive declaration of results as at when they come in? They never did that but they had the impudence to come and tell Ghanaians that there was over voting in Ashanti,” he said.

Meanwhile, the party has also dispelled allegations that it announced the results of the poll ahead of the EC.

Some opposition parties criticised the NPP saying announcing its collated results and claiming to have won the polls amounted to usurping the role of the election-conducting body.

But Mr Manu said some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) rather posted election results on their social media pages boasting that the NDC was in a comfortable lead.

He stated that he only requested the flag bearer of the NDC to concede defeat at that time since results compiled by the NPP showed the NDC had lost.

“I spoke to them and showed them the Facebook wall of Mrs Bawa-Mogtari, the presidential spokesperson of former President John Mahama, who, on her Facebook wall at 11:09pm on 7th December, said that from detailed figures they had received from their parallel vote tabulation, they were in a comfortable lead. Then at 11:49pm, James Agyenim Boateng, also on his Twitter handle, said that the NDC was in a comfortable lead with, I think, 53.8 per cent and I came out at 2:30am after these two observations from the NDC. So what wrong have I committed?” he asked.

He said he showed “documents…the EC [itself] had posted at various polling stations, and there is no law in the country that bans that”.

He insisted that he did not declare results but asked “President Mahama and the NDC to concede defeat”.