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Release
NPP
August 1, 2013
PETITIONERS SUPPORTED BY THE NUMBERS –
EACH CATEGORY SUSTAINED BY COURT IS ENOUGH TO BRING MAHAMA DOWN
The Petitioners in the Presidential Election Petition have
proven to the Court in their written address that any one of the
four main categories of irregularities, if sustained by the
Court, is enough to invalidate the declaration of John Mahama as
winner of the December Presidential Elections.
In their written submissions, the petitioners restricted
themselves to 10,119 polling stations on which they relied on to
make an analysis of the impact of the various statutory and
constitutional violations and irregularities the petitioners are
seeking the court to sustain.
The petitioners indicate that they decided to rely on 10,119
polling stations because it is those polling stations that fit
the strict criteria set. The address states:
“The criteria for determining the total number of polling
stations petitioners are relying on for purposes of this
submission are that, they must:
• be captured in the further and better particulars
• be supported by the affidavit of the 2nd petitioner or
appropriately re-categorised with leave of the Court a
• have unique polling station codes (except for the duplicate
polling station code category where separate results are
recorded on two or three different pink sheets with the same
polling station code)
• be captured in the KPMG Report or used by the respondents in
their cross-examination of the 2ndpetitioner.
• not be part of the 704 polling stations the petitioners
deleted with leave of the Court. ”
On the basis of the 10,119 polling stations, the petitioners
proceeded to prove to the court how many polling stations are
affected in the various categories of irregularities and how
their annulment, should the court sustain the petitioners’
argument, would impact the results declared.
The petitioners indicate that using the 10,119 polling stations,
over voting occurred in a total of 1,722 polling stations while
the occurrence of voting without biometric verification occurred
in 2,020 polling stations. The irregularity of absence of
Presiding officers’ signature occurred in a total of 1,638
polling stations while the use of duplicate serial numbers on
pink sheets affected 8,987 polling stations.
The analysis of the petitioners, are all backed by details of
the polling stations including polling station names, polling
station codes, pink sheet serial numbers and votes secured by
the various candidates in various polling stations contained in
the volume 2 of the addresses submitted.
In total, 3,931,339 votes are affected by the various
irregularities in the 10,119 polling stations being challenged
by the petitioners. When the results of these polling stations
are annulled, John Mahama’s votes would be reduced by 2,622,551
which will result in him securing 41.79% of the new tally of
valid votes. Nana Akufo – Addo’s votes would also be reduced by
1,233,186 but that will still see him securing 56.85% of the of
the new tally of valid votes, much more than the needed 50% + 1
to be declared as winner of the Presidency.
The petitioners also showed in their addresses that all the four
main irregularities on their own had a material impact on the
results declared and that annulling the polling stations
affected by any of the four irregularities will mean that the
declared winner, John Mahama, did not secure the required over
50%.
On over voting, the analysis shows that a total of 745,569 votes
are affected in the 1,722 polling stations where over voting
occurred. Out of this, 504,014 went in favor of John Mahama and
would thus have to be annulled while 226,198 of the votes
benefitted Nana Akufo – Addo and will have to be deducted.
Annulling and deducting the votes as a result of over voting
will reduce John Mahama’s share of the valid votes below the
required over 50% to 49.47% while Nana Akufo – Addo will have
49.0% of the valid votes. This will mean that the Electoral
Commission should have organized a run-off between the two
leading candidates as nether of them secured the required 50% +
1 of the valid votes.
On the irregularity of voting without biometric verification,
the petitioners have showed that a total of 813,866 votes are
affected in the 2,020 polling stations where voting without
biometric verification occurred. If annulled, 560,399 went in
favor of John Mahama and will have to be deducted from his
total. Deducting these votes will give John Mahama 49.25% of the
valid votes while Nana Akufo – Addo’s votes will have to be
reduced by 234,970, giving him also 49.25% of the valid votes.
The Electoral Commission should have thus held a run-off to
determine the winner of the elections.
On the category of the absence of Presiding officers’ signature,
a total of 659,814 are affected. Out of these, 448,153 went in
the favor of John Mahama while 197,890 were cast for Nana Akufo
– Addo and will all have to be annulled. When the various votes
are deducted as a result of the annulments, John Mahama will
have 49.60% of the valid votes while 48.87%.
The category with the highest number of polling stations is that
of the duplicate serial number category where 8.987 polling
stations are affected. Should the court sustain the arguments of
the petitioners on this irregularity, a total of 3,508,491 votes
will have to be annulled with 2,344,540 and 1,097,169 affecting
John Mahama and Nana Akufo – Addo respectively. With these
annulments and deductions, John Mahama will have 43.15% of the
valid votes while Nana Akufo – Addo will have 55.45%. This means
that the category of duplicate serial numbers by itself is
enough to overturn the declared outcome of the elections.
The petitioners also showed that should the court annul the
polling stations affected by any two of the four main categories
of irregularities, it will be enough to give Nana Akufo – Addo,
the required over 50% of the valid votes to be declared a
outright winner of the elections.
For example, should the court uphold the argument of the
petitioners on the twin categories of over voting and voting
without biometric verification, 3,371 polling stations will have
to be annulled with a total of 1,365,723 votes affected. Out of
this total, 932,501 votes will have to be deducted from the
total declared votes of John Mahama while 404,531 will have to
be deducted from the votes of Nana Akufo – Addo. These
deductions will bring John Mahama’s share of the valid votes to
48.21% while Nana Akufo – Addo’s will have 50.31%.
It should be noted that the over voting and voting without
biometric verification categories are twin categories because
technically every incident of no biometric verification in a
polling station leads to over voting as it means that the number
of ballots in the box at the end of voting will be more than the
number of persons who were properly verified and fit to vote.
This is Afari Gyan’s own definition of over voting on December
5th, 2012, two days before the election when he stated “that
every polling station where the number of ballots in the box at
the end of the voting was more than the number of people
properly verified by the biometric device to vote would be
annulled.”
All other combinations of any two categories as stated earlier
brings John Mahama below the 50% mark and gives Nana Akufo –
Addo the required 50% + 1 of the valid votes
NPP
Headquarters, Private Mail Bag, Accra-North, Ghana
Tel: +233 0302 264329/ 264288 Fax: +233 0302 229 048
Email: nppdcom@gmail.com Website: www.newpatrioticparty.org
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