Akua Afriyie Drags EC to Court Over Ablekuma North Election Rerun

Jul 8, 2025 - 00:38

Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie is the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North in the 2024 general elections

Accra, Ghana - 8 July, 2025 - Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North, has launched a legal challenge against Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) in the Accra High Court, seeking to halt a rerun of the 2024 parliamentary election in 19 polling stations scheduled for 11 July 2025.

The lawsuit, filed on 7 July, accuses the EC of acting unlawfully and ignoring a prior court order, escalating tensions over the disputed election outcome in a constituency that remains without a representative seven months after the national polls.

Afriyie’s legal action follows the EC’s announcement on 2 July to rerun elections in 19 of Ablekuma North’s 281 polling stations, citing unverified results due to presiding officers’ failure to authenticate pink sheets.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Afriyie insisted she won the 7 December 2024 election “fair and square,” claiming results from all polling stations showed her leading with 34,613 votes against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Ewurabena Aubynn’s 34,199.

Her 38-paragraph affidavit, supported by legal counsel Gary Nimako Marfo, argues the EC’s decision violates a 4 January 2025 High Court ruling by Justice Forson Agyapong Baah, which mandated collation of all polling station results rather than a rerun.

The suit further contends that Regulation 42 of C.I. 127 allows reruns only for tied votes, which the EC has not declared, and labels the commission’s reliance on unverified scanned pink sheets as “arbitrary and capricious.” Afriyie seeks a court order to quash the EC’s directive, prohibit the rerun, and enforce the January ruling.

The Ablekuma North election has been mired in controversy since December 2024, when violence disrupted the collation process. Reports indicate NDC supporters stormed the collation centre in Odorkor, destroying pink sheets and pressuring officials, leading to the resignation of the constituency’s Returning Officer on 8 January 2025.

The EC initially proposed re-collation of 62 outstanding polling stations, as ordered by the High Court, but later reduced the scope to 19 stations after verifying results from 18 others.

The commission, led by Jean Mensa, has defended the rerun as essential for electoral credibility, with Deputy Chairman Samuel Tettey assuring a transparent process backed by Ghana Police Service security.

The NPP has fiercely opposed the rerun, with General Secretary Justin Frimpong Kodua calling it “unjustified” and accusing the EC of yielding to NDC pressure, a claim echoed by National Communications Director Richard Ahiagbah, who contrasted the EC’s handling of Ablekuma North with the Dome Kwabenya constituency, where no rerun was ordered.

Read the full suit below;

Source: Lead News Online