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Press Release
August 07, 2013
NPP
RESPONDENTS’ PREFERRED DATASET
STILL BRINGS MAHAMA DOWN IN ALL CATEGORIES
The petitioners in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition at
the Supreme Court have indicated in their addresses that even
though it would amount to exclusion of evidence and militate
against the interest of doing substantial justice, should the
court accept the argument of the respondents and exclude pink
sheets which have been mislabeled or re-categorized, the
petitioners will still have enough numbers to support their case
that John Mahama was not validly elected President on December
7th.
In presenting the “statistical analysis of the impact of
constitutional and statutory violations, malpractices and
irregularities”, the petitioners stated “The respondents have
argued, however, that polling stations/pink sheets should only
be counted if:
i. they fall within the original categorization of the affidavit
of the petitioners (i.e. all re-categorisation should be ignored
even if the names, codes and number of polling stations
specified in the further and better particulars remain the same)
ii. they fall within the original range or original labelling
for each category in the affidavit of the petitioners (i.e. all
mislabelled pink sheets should be ignored even if the names,
codes and number of polling stations specified in the further
and better particulars remain the same).
iii. the exhibit numbers are unique (i.e. pink sheets with
duplicate exhibit numbers should be excluded)”
The petitioners proceeded to explain that “the argument by the
respondents to exclude evidence on the basis of mislabeling,
duplicate exhibit numbers and re-categorisation is bizarre. To
do so would essentially amount to an exclusion of evidence and
militate against the interest of doing substantial justice.
Nonetheless, we have proceeded to do an impact analysis of the
data using the respondents‟ argument.”
The address indicated that the polling station pink sheets the
respondents want excluded total 1,024 and provided tables for
them and noted that for the purposes of arguments, those 1,024
polling stations will be excluded from the 10,119 polling
stations the petitioners are relying on to make an impact
analysis of the various irregularities and their combinations
based on the respondents’ preferred dataset.
This means for the analysis, using the respondents’ preferred
dataset, the petitioners restricted themselves to only 9,095
polling stations instead of the 10,119 polling stations the
petitioners are relying on now.
However, should the court uphold the arguments of the
petitioners and annul the results from only the 9,095 polling
stations in the respondents’ preferred dataset, a total of
3,554,853 votes will be affected. Out of these, 2,365,265 votes
will be deducted from John Mahama’s declared total and will
result in him having 43.14% of the valid votes cast, which is
much less than the required 50%+ 1 needed to be elected winner
of the election. Nana Akufo- Addo on the other hand will have
his votes reduced by 1,123,025, which will give him 55.45% of
the valid votes cast.
Similarly, should the court uphold the arguments of the
petitioners on the irregularities of over voting, voting without
biometric verification and the absence of presiding officer’s
signature and annul the results using the respondents’ preferred
dataset, 4,079 polling stations with a total of 1,640,789 votes
will be affected. Out of this total, John Mahama’s votes will
see a reduction of 1,118,202 while Nana Akufo-Addo’s votes will
be reduced by 489,233. These reductions will result in John
Mahama having 47.64% of the valid votes while Nana Akufo – Addo
will have 50.88% of the valid votes. This means that Nana
Akufo-Addo would have secured more than the required 50%+1 votes
to be elected, even if only the polling stations in the
respondents’ preferred dataset are used.
On the twin categories of over voting and voting without
biometric verification, a total of 3,154 polling stations with
1,272,973 votes will be affected using the respondents’
preferred dataset.
“Annulling the votes in those polling stations would mean that
John Dramani Mahama‟s total votes would be reduced by 868,156
resulting in him securing 48.41% of valid votes cast. Nana
Akufo-Addo‟s total votes, on the other hand, would be reduced by
378,179, resulting in him securing 50.10% of valid votes cast.
The constitutional and statutory violations of over-voting and
voting without biometric verification, therefore, would have had
a material effect on the election results declared by the 2nd
respondent, even if one accepts the “Respondents’ Preferred Data
Set” . In this situation also, Nana Akufo–Addo, 1st petitioner,
ought to be declared validly elected as President”, the address
said.
Also, should the court decide to annul polling stations affected
by the absence of presiding officer’s signature and voting
without biometric verification using the respondents’ preferred
dataset, a total of 3,128 polling stations will be affected.
When the votes from these polling stations are annulled, John
Mahama as a result of these infractions will see a reduction in
his votes of 836,658 while Nana Akufo – Addo’s votes will also
be reduced by 361,018. These annulments and deductions will
result in John Mahama having 48.49% while Nana Akufo – Addo will
have 50.02% of the valid votes.
On the individual irregularities, the petitioners proved that
even when the respondents’ preferred dataset is used, each
irregularity if sustained by the court and the necessary
annulments done, will mean that John Mahama did not secure the
required 50%+1 of the valid votes.
With over voting, should the court agree to annul the results
from only polling stations affected by over voting using only
the respondents’ preferred dataset (which excludes pink sheets
mislabeled, re-categorized or those with duplicate exhibit
numbers) a total of 1,588 polling stations with 684,932 votes
will be affected.
“Annulling these votes means that John Dramani Mahama’s total
votes would be reduced by 462,094, resulting in him securing
49.59% of valid votes cast. Nana Akufo-Addo’s total votes, on
the other hand, would be reduced by 208,722, resulting in him
securing 48.88% of valid votes cast. The constitutional and
statutory violation of over-voting, therefore, would have had a
material effect on the election results declared by the 2nd
respondent even if one accepts the “Respondents’ Preferred Data
Set”. In that circumstance, there ought to be a second election
between the two leading candidates, in accordance with article
63(4) of the Constitution”, the petitioners noted.
“The respondents have further argued that pink sheets for which
the number of ballots papers issued to voters eligible to vote
at the polling station (column C1 on the pink sheet) was left
blank (or filled as zero) should be excluded, because ballot
accounting is not possible. There are 223 such pink sheets in
the “Respondents’ Preferred Data Set”. If these pink sheets are
excluded, as argued, the impact of the annulment of votes as a
result of over-voting still leaves the 1st respondent short of
50% plus of valid votes cast required. Excluding the pink sheets
for which C1 is zero or blank would mean that John Dramani
Mahama’s total votes would be reduced by 399,518, resulting in
him securing 49.74% of valid votes cast. Nana Akufo-Addo’s total
votes, on the other hand, would be reduced by 179,917, resulting
in him securing 48.72% of valid votes cast”, the address
continued.
Again, the petitioners in their address indicated that should
the court accept the arguments of the petitioners on only the
statutory violation of voting without biometric verification and
annul the votes from polling stations affected using the
respondents’ preferred dataset, a total of 2,009 polling
stations will be affected.
“In such a situation, John Dramani Mahama’s total votes would be
reduced by 526,416, resulting in him securing 49.35% of valid
votes cast. Nana Akufo-Addo’s total votes, on the other, hand
would be reduced by 221,678, resulting in him securing 49.14% of
valid votes cast. The statutory violation of voting without
biometric verification would therefore have had a material
effect on the election results declared by the 2nd respondent,
even if one accepts the “Respondents’ Preferred Data Set” . In
that circumstance, there ought to be a second election between
the two leading candidates”, the petitioners stated.
Also, using the respondents preferred dataset, 1,384 polling
stations are affected by the constitutional violation of the
absence of the presiding officer’s signature. Should the votes
from these polling stations be annulled, “John Dramani Mahama’s
total votes would be reduced by 382,088, resulting in him
securing 49.78% of valid votes cast. Nana Akufo-Addo’s total
votes, on the other hand, would be reduced by 170,940, resulting
in him securing 48.68% of valid votes cast.” This will mean that
John Mahama did not secure the required 50%+1 of valid votes to
win the December 7th election.
Finally, the petitioners indicated in their address that using
the respondents’ preferred dataset, 7,995 polling stations are
affected by the malpractice of same serial numbers for different
polling station pink sheets. Again, should the court agree to
annul these results, a total of 3,143,993 votes will be
affected. This will see a reduction in John Mahama’s votes of
2,095,045 which will result in him having 44.32% of the valid
votes while Nana Akufo-Addo will have his votes reduced by
990,881 votes resulting in him having 54.23% of the valid votes.
Counsel for the respondents, especially Tony Lithur and Tsatsu
Tsikata, it will be recalled, spent substantial time and energy
on issues like mislabeling, re-categorization etc. during the
hearings and also in their addresses and suggested to the court
that pink sheets affected by such issues should be set aside.
However, the address of the petitioners and their statistical
analysis all backed by tables shows that even if the respondents
arguments on setting aside such pink sheets are accepted, the
petitioners will still have enough numbers to prove that indeed
the outcome of the December 7th General Election was affected by
the various constitutional and statutory irregularities,
violations and malpractices.
NPP
August 07, 2013
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