A Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam Hadzide, believes the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) rejection of the outcome of the just-ended polls is a gimmick to appease supporters.

“This is clearly a normal trick in the book; that when political parties lose elections, the leadership in an attempt to manage the feelings and expectations of members and supporters engage in some of these gimmicks. So if you are not careful you might fall for them,” he said on The Big Issue.

The NDC has questioned the credibility of the electoral results and strongly expressed its unwillingness to accept the outcome of the election following what it describes as ‘irregularities’.

The party’s presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama subsequently revealed at a press conference on Thursday, December 10, 2020, that the party will audit the outcomes of the poll to inform its next line of action.

Even, if the NDC opts for a legal challenge, Mr. Hadzide said it would lack conviction.

“I am not surprised by their conduct. When President Kufour won the elections in 2004, we heard the same narrative. In fact, they started some court proceedings, just that they did not continue. We believe that we had a strong case in 2012 so we did not abandon it.”

“Even if the NDC starts the court proceedings they will abandon it because this is much ado about nothing.” he added.

The credibility of the results released by the electoral management body has also been questioned by a section of the public following disparities in the presidential results.

It follows the revision of the total valid votes declared by the EC on December 9, 2020, where EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa announced wrong figures for the valid votes cast as well as the percentage of votes president-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had.

The Commission subsequently amended the error in different press statements and clarified that this “does not change the percentages stated for each candidate and the declaration made by the Chairperson.”

Mr. Hadzide prayed Ghanaians to indulge the mistakes from the EC.

“We must understand that errors are bound to occur in human institutions. We are but mere mortals. We should be talking about investing more in improving capacities.”