The Deputy General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Haruna Mohammed, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of allowing political influence to dictate its decision to rerun parliamentary elections in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency.
The EC, on Wednesday, July 2, announced that fresh elections would be held in 19 polling stations on Friday, July 11, as part of efforts to resolve the electoral impasse following the disputed December 7, 2024 parliamentary polls in the constituency.
The Commission explained that the rerun was necessitated by the use of scanned pink sheets from 37 polling stations, which were originally provided by the NPP for collation.
However, these documents had not been verified by the respective presiding officers, prompting the need for further verification and, subsequently, a rerun in 19 of the affected polling stations.
But speaking to journalists in Koforidua on the sidelines of the Post-2024 Elections Evaluation Dialogue, Haruna Mohammed expressed disappointment, describing the EC’s decision as inconsistent with earlier assurances provided to Parliament.
According to him, the EC had previously indicated in Parliament that it had successfully collated results from all polling stations except three, where elections had been disrupted by violence.
He noted that the EC had stated at the time that all it required was adequate security to conclude the collation process.
“We all know Parliament is a place of record. The electoral permission went to Parliament and answered questions to the members of Parliament and indicated that they had collated the results for all the polling stations except three and they were asked whether there was a court process. He said no, they only needed security to conclude the pollution of the three,” Mr. Mohammed stated.
He argued that the sudden decision to conduct fresh elections in 19 polling stations suggests a political agenda rather than a purely procedural concern.
The NPP Deputy General Secretary called for enhanced investigative efforts to ensure accountability and protect the integrity of Ghana’s electoral process.
“Then yesterday there has been an engagement that they had to go back and do elections in 19 polling stations. It means that there is political undertone. Security or investigating bodies are not interested to get to the bottom of issues. So without justice, peace is also compromised. And I think that we need to up our game in terms of investigative activity,” he emphasized.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
