The National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) Ketu North parliamentary primary was overseen by the Ghanaian Electoral Commission (EC), which has confirmed there was a tie vote and no winner.
In his report to Accra, Prince Agbemanyah, the constituency’s EC Returning Officer, stated that there was no winner because the top two candidates, John Kobla Adanu and Edem Agbana, both received 358 votes after a recount.
Therefore, subject to the party’s schedule, the EC has tentatively scheduled a repeat in Ketu North to be held in 21 days on Sunday, June 4, 2023.
The Presiding Officer, Mr. Agbemenyah, claimed that after the election, Edem Agbana was ahead of John Adanu by one vote, 360 to 359, but an agent immediately requested a recount.
When every ballot was revalidated and recounted, the EC found five ballots that had not been stamped with the EC’s seal, rendering them invalid under the pre-election rules.
According to reports, out of these five, two votes went to Edem Agbana, one to John Adanu, and the final two went to another candidate, Gabriel Kwame Tanko Atokple.
In order to determine the winner, the EC first took out the five invalid votes, leaving Kwame Atokple with 174 votes and Agbana and Adanu each receiving 358 votes.
Dr. Donald Agumenu received 210 votes, followed by Prosper Yao Ledi with 72, Leonard Nyakpo with 8 votes, and Don Emmanuel Agbanyo with 7, while 7 votes were rejected.
The NDC’s flagbearer for the 2024 presidential election has also been named by the EC as former president John Dramani Mahama.
The EC reported that in the election held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, the former president received 297,603 votes (98.9% of the vote), defeating his opponent Kojo Bonsu who received 3,181 votes (1.1%).