The Incumbent Member of Parliament for the Walewale Constituency, Hon. Lariba Zuweira Abudu, has withdrawn from the Walewale NPP Primaries.
In an official letter signed by her and addressed to the General Secretary of the party, Hon. Lariba Abudu made it clear that she has taken this decision in the interest of the party and for peace to prevail in the Walewale Constituency.
This decision comes at the back of the annulment of the results by the Electoral Commission of the primaries due to the chaos that erupted during the counting of ballots.
"Following the inconclusive re-run of the parliamentary primary in the Walewale Constituency, yesterday,(with the Electoral Commission unable to a results as a result of an unfortunate incident ) I have decided that in the interest of the greater good of the New Patriotic Party,and peace and unity in the Walewale Constituency,I will no longer be a candidate for MP in the 2024 election. I am therefore withdrawing from the contest".
She thanked the party for the honour done her to represent her constituents in the last 4 years and assured the party of her support in the 2024 campaign.
*Background*
Confusion marred the re-run of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Walewale constituency parliamentary primary on Monday, prompting the Electoral Commission (EC) to declare the election null and void.
The disruption occurred when an individual snatched ballot papers during sorting, resulting in some ballots being destroyed.
Earlier, voting had proceeded smoothly following a change of venue in the morning.
However, the process took a chaotic turn during the sorting of ballots, which commenced around 4 p.m.
A man, identified by police as Kamara Bawah, allegedly grabbed several ballot papers and attempted to flee.
He reportedly destroyed some of the ballots before being apprehended by the police, who fired warning shots to restore order.
The ballot papers were subsequently taken to the police station, where party officials and the EC considered whether to continue counting.
After reviewing the damaged ballots, the EC decided to nullify the election results.
Story By : Collins Boateng (Cabman) for VOV News