The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly on Wednesday (March 30, 2022) failed to elect a new Presiding Member after polls conducted by the electoral commission. Two candidates contested the position.
The incumbent Presiding Member, Mohammed Alhassan was seeking reelection and his contender, Mohammed Rashad Abdulai.
The Standing Orders of the assembly required that the winning candidate should at least secure two-third of the total votes cast. However, none of the two could meet the threshold of 42 votes.
Out of 59 total votes cast, Mohammed Alhassan had 31 votes and Mohammed Rashad Abdulai also pulled 28. The outcome means both candidates could not secure the mandate of the assembly members to become the presiding member of the metropolitan area.
Mr.Bismark Nteh, officer of the electoral commission for Tamale metro said the assembly would have to reconvene within ten days for the conduct of fresh elections. He explained the voter population of the assembly consists of elected assembly members, government appointees, the Chief Executive and the two Members of Parliament in the area.
However, he said the two legislators have no voting rights but they are added in the calculation making the entire figure 62. He added the qualified voters were 60 but one person was absent.
“And 2/3 of 62 is 41.33 but because we don’t have fraction of a human being, we don’t work ours like the way mathematic is done – that it must be more than point five before you run it to one so even a figure that is point something, we convert it to a round figure of one” he indicated.
