Defeated University of Ghana Students’ Representative Council Presidential aspirant, Sylvester Amoako has rejected the results declared by the UG Electoral Commission after last Thursday’s runoff election.
This is due to allegations that the software used in the electronic voting had developed faults and that “some polling centres confirmed that there were faults regarding who was voted for and who the computer displayed to have been voted for.”
Sylvester Amoako’s opponent, Daniel Awuah Otting was declared winner of the runoff election in what has been described as a landslide victory for Otting.
Sylvester polled 1,706 votes representing 33 per cent of the votes while Otting won the election by gaining 3,412 votes that represented 67 per cent of the total votes cast.
Meanwhile, in a statement that was signed by the Sylverster Amoako Campaign Team, it said “while we do not have substantive evidence to support our claim, we have reason to believe that the figures declared by the EC are not a true representation of the voice of students.”
“We believe that the electronic system that was employed in conducting the SRC election was not in a reliable state as at the time of the compilation of the voting results at the various polling centres,” the statement said.
Citing an example to back their allegations, the Sylvester Amoako Team said there was evidence of the voting software developing fault at the Jean Nelson Aka Hall polling station where Sylvester Amoako was purported to have obtained a total of six votes after the election.
“We cannot, for a fact, specify whether the apparent glitches in the software were an oversight, an act of negligence or a deliberate attempt to sabotage the campaign,” it said.
However, the campaign team has decided not to petition the UG Judicial Council to challenge the validity of the results though the UG SRC Constitution gives an aggrieved aspirant 48 hours after the declaration of results to challenge the its validity.
“Nevertheless, we will continue to advocate relentlessly for the implementation of the VOTE AND PRINT SYSTEM because it promises to be more credible and convenient for everyone,” the statement said.
