NPP sets modalities for declaring election results

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Tuesday said Agents of candidates in the June 13 Parliamentary primaries who fail to sign the declaration of results forms will not invalidate the results.

The party said: "Where an expression is used that requires, authorizes or implies that an act or thing is to be done in the presence of the candidate; the non-attendance of the Candidate or the Agent of the Candidate, at the time and place, shall not invalidate the act or thing done."

The NPP 2015 Parliamentary Primaries Guidelines mandate a candidate to appoint two Polling Agents to observe the elections at the constituency Polling Station, where the candidate is contesting, but only one Agent will be engaged at any given time.

A statement signed by Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, the NPP’s General Secretary, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra on Tuesday, said the guidelines were based on the directives by the party’s National Executive Committee, the National Secretariat in consultation with the Constituency Elections Committee, and the Electoral Commission agreed on the Guidelines and Notice.

The NPP directed its candidates to submit the names and addresses of their Polling Agents and the Polling Station to which the Agents were to be assigned to the District Electoral Office not later than three days to the election.

On declaration of result; the party explained that only the Presiding Officer immediately after the close of poll, in the presence of Agents of the Candidates should count the ballot papers at the Polling Station.

The statement said the Presiding Officer shall record the total number of votes cast in favour of each Candidate, as well as the total number of rejected ballots; sign a Declaration and cause the Agents to sign the results of the election; as well as announce the results of the voting at that Polling Station; and give each Agent a copy of the Declaration of Results.

"In accordance with the provisions of the Party Constitution, the Candidate who receives the highest number of valid votes cast shall be declared elected as the Parliamentary Candidate of the Party by the Electoral Commission," said the statement.

The party also directed that where the proceedings at a Polling Station are interrupted or obstructed by flood, storm or other natural catastrophe, the Presiding Officer shall, in consultation with the Returning Officer and subject to the approval of the Commission, adjourn the proceedings to the following day.

“Where a Poll is adjourned, the hours of polling on the day to which it is adjourned shall be the same as on the original polling day,” the statement said.

The statement said the District Electoral Officer was mandated to prescribe the Polling Station in the Constituency Capital, after consultation with the Constituency Executive, for the purpose of the election.

The Polling Station shall be the polling station for persons entitled to vote in the Constituency.

The statement said for the purpose of the election, all founding members required to vote, shall vote at the Polling Station in the Constituency where the voter was located.