A political scientist at the University of Ghana says there is nothing wrong with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) declaring aspirant MP Edem Agbana as the winner of the Ketu North primaries of the party despite indications that the contest resulted in a tie.

Dr Kwame Asah-Asante explained that although the approach could incur some political costs such as electorates deciding not to partake in the next election, or open a “Pandora's box” where other political parties may take to declare their own winners when such situations occur, he does not think the party was wrong in their decision to make the declaration.

“But for me, I don’t think that the NDC was wrong having done it themselves by declaring,” he said on the JoyNews’ AM Show on Wednesday, May 17.

The Electoral Commission (EC) initially declared Mr Edem Agbana as the winner after vote counts indicated he had won by a single vote.

But, after a recount was conducted upon a request by the opponent, it was revealed that two of Edem’s votes and one of that of the opponent had not been endorsed.

This meant that they were tied as they now polled 358 votes each.

Instead of an obvious re-run, the party later declared Edem as the winner of the primaries in Ketu North Constituency.

Meanwhile, the political scientist has advised that political parties need to make provisions for such a situation.

According to him, it should be established in the form of a document as to whether or not the party itself or a court would address such an issue.