The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to demonstrate consistency and fairness in resolving electoral disputes.
This comes after the EC announced a rerun of the parliamentary election in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency, scheduled for Friday, July 11, 2025.
The decision follows months of disagreement between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the outcome of the 2024 parliamentary elections in the area.
Reacting to the development on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey on Thursday, July 3, Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah, Programme Manager for Security Sector Governance at CDD-Ghana, expressed concern that the EC’s approach could deepen mistrust.
He argued that the EC should have applied the same established protocols used to resolve similar post-election disputes in constituencies like Dome Kwabenya.
“Electoral Commission should be consistent in its decision of this. And going forward, probably the Electoral Commission should stick to principles and guidelines in managing some of the post-election complaints. Because if you use similar instances, or you establish a pattern to collate the disputed pin sheets in Dome Kwabenya, I don’t think why you should mend your principles or protocol in also collating same in Ablekuma North,” he stated.
He added, “When you did that, then people are going to have more misgivings and mistrust in your approach.”
Mr. Mensah urged the EC and electoral stakeholders to establish clear, acceptable protocols for handling future election disputes to ensure transparency and fairness.
Initially, the EC rejected calls for a rerun, insisting that results from three outstanding polling stations could be collated to declare a winner. However, after engagements with stakeholders, the Commission reversed its decision, citing the need to resolve the deadlock.
The EC explained that of the 37 disputed polling stations, results from 18 were verified and approved, leaving 19 for the rerun. The constituency remains without a Member of Parliament, and the EC has assured the public of adequate security for the upcoming polls.
Meanwhile, the NPP has already announce to procced to court, expressing their displeasure.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
