Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has expressed surprise over the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to conduct a rerun of the parliamentary election in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency.
The EC, on Wednesday, July 2, announced that the rerun would be held on Friday, July 11, 2025, following months of disagreement between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the outcome of the 2024 parliamentary election in the area.
Reacting to the development on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey on Thursday, July 3, Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah, the Programme Manager for Security Sector Governance at CDD-Ghana expressed shock at what he described as a surprising U-turn by the Electoral Commission.
“I was a bit amazed and shocked when I heard and I read the press statement. I say this because of multiple communications from the electoral commission prior to this release,” he stated.
Mr. Mensah cited several instances where the EC, including Deputy Chairperson Dr. Bossman Asare, had assured both Parliament and the public that only three polling stations remained outstanding for collation and that no rerun was being considered.
“One on radio, letters, first letter to Dampare to provide security for them to collate the outstanding three and to them they had all the things that enabled them to collate the others, the only outstanding of the three, one to Yuhuno when he took over from Dampare.”
“The third one was Bossman Asare meeting with Parliament and repeating the stand of the electoral commission that they were left with only three outstanding stations to collate. So I was surprised of the U-turn when I saw and read the statement yesterday,” Mr. Mensah added.
Initially, the Commission had rejected calls for a rerun, insisting that the results from the remaining three polling stations could still be collated to declare a winner. However, after engagements with both parties and stakeholders, the EC has now reversed its position, citing the need to resolve the impasse.
In a statement, the EC explained that of the 37 disputed polling stations, results from 18 had been verified by Presiding Officers and approved by party agents, meaning only the remaining 19 would be affected by the rerun.
The Ablekuma North constituency remains without a Member of Parliament due to the electoral dispute. The EC has called on the Ghana Police Service to provide adequate security to ensure a peaceful and credible election on July 11.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
