The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has threatened legal action against the Electoral Commission (EC) over its decision to conduct a rerun of the parliamentary election in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency.
The EC announced on Wednesday, July 2, that a rerun would take place on Friday, July 11, 2025. This comes after months of disagreement between the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regarding the outcome of the 2024 parliamentary election in the constituency.
But addressing the press on Thursday, July 3, NPP General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, described the EC’s decision as unlawful, arbitrary, and contrary to the Commission’s own earlier position on the matter.
He argued that the EC initially maintained that only three polling stations had outstanding results to be collated and questioned the sudden U-turn leading to a rerun in 19 polling stations.
“We wish to appeal to the EC to assert its authority under the Constitution and relevant laws and comply with the orders of the High Court to complete the collation of the results of the three(3) outstanding polling stations,” Mr. Kodua said.
“The EC is a creature of law and must conduct its affairs within the confines of the law. The Commission does not have an unfettered discretion to do what it pleases.”
According to Mr. Kodua, the NPP has evidence from the pink sheets indicating that after the collation of all 281 polling stations, their parliamentary candidate, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh, won the election with 34,613 votes against the NDC’s 34,199 votes.
“Unlike the NDC, we in the NPP are confident that per the record, after the collation of the results of all the 281 polling stations in Ablekuma North, our parliamentary
candidate Hon Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh won with 34,613 as against the NDC’s 34,199.”
“No amount of arm-twisting can change this record as evidenced on the face of the pinksheets. We have given firm instructions to our lawyers to proceed to court to challenge this unlawful, capricious, whimsical, arbitrary, and self-serving directive from the Electoral Commission,” he added.
The EC, however, has justified its decision, stating that of the 37 disputed polling stations, results from 18 had been verified by Presiding Officers and approved by party agents.
The remaining 19 stations, whose scanned results were used in the initial collation, lacked proper verification, necessitating the rerun.
The Ablekuma North Constituency has been without a Member of Parliament since the 2024 elections due to the dispute.
The EC has assured the public that adequate security will be provided by the Ghana Police Service to ensure a peaceful and credible rerun on July 11.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
