By Daniel Bampoe
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has strongly rejected the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to rerun parliamentary elections in 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency, accusing the Commission of undermining a High Court order and caving in to political pressure from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, July 3, 2025, NPP General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong described the EC’s decision as “unlawful, disingenuous, and a dangerous precedent that threatens Ghana’s democratic integrity.”
EC’s Decision Sparks Tensions
On July 2, 2025, the EC issued a public statement announcing plans to rerun elections in 19 polling stations in Ablekuma North.
The EC explained that while scanned results from the affected polling stations were used in earlier collations and had the approval of party agents, they were not officially verified by the Presiding Officers responsible, thus requiring a rerun.
The EC’s Deputy Chairperson of Operations, Samuel Tettey, claimed the decision followed a meeting with representatives from both the NPP and NDC, after which the Commission concluded that a rerun was the best course of action.
But the NPP has pushed back forcefully, insisting that the Commission is overstepping its authority and violating a High Court ruling that only mandated the completion—not rerun—of the collation process.
High Court Mandate Ignored?
In January 2025, the High Court in Accra ordered the EC to complete the collation of parliamentary results in four constituencies—Ablekuma North, Tema Central, Okaikwei Central, and Techiman South—following a writ filed by the NPP.
The court also directed the Inspector General of Police to provide security to the EC during the collation process.
According to the NPP, the EC successfully complied with the court order in the other three constituencies, but Ablekuma North remains unresolved.
Per the court’s directive, the EC was required to complete the collation of 62 remaining polling station results out of 281 in Ablekuma North.
The NPP asserts that 59 out of those 62 results were successfully collated between December 2024 and January 2025—many under difficult circumstances due to repeated disruptions allegedly orchestrated by NDC supporters.
Only three polling stations remain outstanding, the party says, and the EC has publicly acknowledged this several times—most recently during a June 2025 meeting and again before Parliament.
Allegations of Political Pressure and Thuggery
The NPP alleges that the EC’s sudden shift—from planning to complete collation of three results to calling a rerun in 19 polling stations—is the result of political pressure and threats from top NDC officials.
The party cited previous remarks by NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who hinted at restructuring the EC leadership.
The NPP further accuses the NDC of sponsoring violent disruptions during earlier collation attempts and rewarding individuals allegedly involved in those acts with political appointments, including the installation of Kalamu Adamu Musah, an accused ringleader, as Municipal Chief Executive for Ablekuma North.
Legal, Constitutional Concerns Raised
The NPP maintains that the EC has no legal authority to unilaterally order a rerun of elections it has already conducted unless directed by a court.
Party officials argue that electronic and scanned copies of polling station results are admissible under Ghanaian law, and that the EC has long accepted those documents as valid for collation purposes.
“In the absence of verified pink sheets from party agents or presiding officers, the EC itself set the rule that only verified results would be collated. That’s exactly what they did,” the party stated, insisting that there is no justification for reopening 19 polling stations—especially when one of the three genuinely outstanding polling stations (Glory Land Hotel Odorkor 1) isn’t even included in the 19.
Implications for Electoral Credibility
The NPP warned that accepting the EC’s current position would embolden political thuggery as a legitimate strategy to alter election outcomes.
The party believes this approach, if allowed to stand, will encourage future disruptions at collation centres, knowing that reruns could be secured after orchestrated chaos.
They also questioned why there are extensive video records of NDC operatives destroying EC documents and NPP pink sheets at collation centres, yet no similar evidence exists of NDC pink sheets being destroyed—suggesting a strategic withholding of results in polling stations where the NDC underperformed.
Call for EC to Respect the Rule of Law
The NPP concluded the press conference by demanding the EC immediately halt plans for a rerun and instead complete the collation of the remaining three polling stations as ordered by the court.
“The Electoral Commission is not above the law. It must respect its own previous communications, the law of the land, and the will of the people,” General Secretary Kodua emphasized.
He confirmed that the party has instructed its legal team to challenge the EC’s rerun decision in court.
According to figures cited by the NPP, its candidate, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh, secured 34,613 votes, against the NDC candidate’s 34,199 votes. The party insists that no “arm-twisting” will change the outcome clearly reflected on the pink sheets.
