NPP youth in protest demonstration

Accra, Dec. 31, GNA - A number of New Patriotic Party (NPP) youths on Wednesday afternoon besieged the Electoral Commission (EC) offices in Accra to protest against the holding of the Presidential Election Runoff in the Tain Constituency on Friday.

They were shouting and demanding that the votes from the Volta Region should be audited before the holding of the election in Tain. Some of them were holding placards one of which read: "No Volta No Tain".

The youths, who were wearing NPP tee-shirts and other NPP paraphernalia, sang and danced behind crowd barriers mounted by the Police on the roads leading to the offices.

At a certain stage they surged forward and the Police drove them back by spraying water on them.

Sheik I.C. Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, later invited them to his residence at Ridge.

As they moved from the EC offices to the residence of Sheik Quaye, they destroyed a bill board of Professor John Evans Atta Mills, Presidential Candidate of National Democratic Congress (NDC), mounted along the Liberation Road at the junction to the residence of Former President Jerry John Rawlings at Ridge.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Opong-Boanuh, in charge of the operation; told GNA that everything had been brought under control. He advised that, party leaders should take pre-emptive action by talking to their youths to refrain from acts that undermined the security of the State.

The GNA Reporter had a taste of the youths' anger when they seized his pen and notebook from him.

One of them asked: "Are you from Radio Gold? Adding, Radio Gold has been inciting the NDC youth."

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), on Tuesday announced that because the results of Tain Constituency could mathematically determine the outcome of the Runoff, he was deferring the declaration of the winner of the 2008 Presidential Election Runoff.

He explained that the number of voters in the Tain constituency was more than the difference between Professor Mills and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of New Patriotic Party (NPP).

"He announced that the results from 229 out of the 230 constituencies that have been certified by the EC, gave Prof Mills 4,501,466 votes representing 50.13 per cent of the total valid votes cast while Nana Akufo-Addo garnered 4,478,411 votes, representing 49.87 per cent.

Thus the difference of 23,055 votes could not give Prof Mills the presidency since the number of voters in the Tain constituency was more than the figure.