NDC confirms Edem Agbana as legitimate winner of Ketu North primary

In a significant development, Edem Agbana, a former Deputy National Youth Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has been officially declared the legitimate winner of the party's parliamentary primary held in the Ketu North Constituency of the Volta Region.

The announcement was made by the national leadership of the NDC through its General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, following an investigation by the party's Functional Executive Committee into the dispute.

The primary election on Saturday resulted in a tie between Edem Agbana and his contender, John Adanu Zewu, leading to a misunderstanding. Ultimately, Edem Agbana was declared the winner by just one vote. However, due to a recount requested by his opponent, it was discovered that three ballot papers had not been stamped by the Electoral Commission.

Further examination revealed that two out of the three unstamped ballots favored Edem Agbana, while one favored John Adanu. Despite the Electoral Commission not officially declaring him the winner, Edem Agbana maintained that he had secured victory with 360 votes, compared to his opponent's 359 votes.

Amid speculations about a possible rerun of the polls in the constituency, the NDC settled the matter at a news conference held in Accra on Tuesday. Fifi Kwetey, the General Secretary, clarified that the unstamped ballot papers were part of the original booklet of ballots provided by the party, indicating no over-voting had occurred.

Kwetey stated, "By and large, we got a consensus coming across the table that the ballot papers [in question] were an integral part of the booklet of ballots that came from the national office that went to that constituency. And therefore they were not foreign materials. We also checked and saw that there was no over-voting. The tallying process done by the agents of the candidates tallied with all the ballot papers found in the ballot box."

He continued, "These, for us, were the pieces of information we wanted to ascertain. So the ballot papers were authentic... Following this, we are of the position that the will that the voters expressed is the authentic will of the people. That original result had candidate Edem Agbana having 360 votes, followed very closely by candidate John Adanu who had 359. Very close as it was, we had to go by the will of the people of Ketu North."

Concluding the announcement, Kwetey stated, "So we want to tell you that, at the end of the day, the committee headed by the National Chairman of the NDC, aided by my own self...that the will of Ketu North was that Edem Agbana was the one that won the most number of votes on the day. Even though it was that close, Edem Agbana will be declared the winner."

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