For Immediate Release
NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY REJECTS ELECTORAL COMMISSION’S DECISION TO CONDUCT A RERUN OF 19 POLLING STATIONS IN ABLEKUMA NORTH; INSISTS THE EC MUST COMPLETE THE CONSTITUENCY COLLATION AS ORDERED BY THE HIGH COURT
Press Conference Addressed by the General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, on Thursday, July 3, 2025
1) Friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is pleased to have you in attendance at this press conference. The essence of this engagement is to communicate the NPP’s official position on the decision by the Electoral Commission to rerun the polling station elections in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency.
2) The EC on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025, issued a statement on Ablekuma North parliamentary election stalemate under the hand of Mr. Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairman (Operations), on the caption, “ELECTIONS IN SELECTED POLLING STATIONS IN ABLEKUMA NORTH”. The EC stated emphatically that following a meeting with representatives of the NPP and the NDC on 1st July 2025, and after extensive deliberations, it had resolved to rerun the election in 19 polling stations. The EC gave the following justification:
“The Commission arrived at the decision to rerun the election in the underlisted Polling Stations because, the 19 scanned Polling Stations results used for the collation, though approved by Agents of both Political Parties, were not verified by the Presiding Officers responsible for those Polling Stations.”
3) For the avoidance of doubt, the New Patriotic Party finds the Electoral Commission’s sudden U-TURN on Ablekuma North election dispute as not only shocking but also DISINGENUOUS and UNLAWFUL. The Party thus COMPLETELY REJECTS the decision of the Commission to rerun the polling station elections in the said 19 polling stations and we shall proceed to advance our reasons.
4) It would be recalled that the High Court, Accra, on 4th January 2025 granted a mandamus application filed by the NPP to compel the EC to conduct its constitutional and statutory duty of completing the constituency collation exercise in four(4) outstanding constituencies, which were Ablekuma North, Tema Central, Okaikwei Central and Techiman South. The High Court specifically ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to provide adequate and armed security to the EC to complete the collation and to declare the winners of the parliamentary elections in these Constituencies. The EC and the IGP have since complied with the court order to collate and declare the winners of the parliamentary results in these outstanding constituencies except for Ablekuma North.
5) In the specific case of Ablekuma North, the High Court ordered the EC to complete the collation of the remaining 62 polling stations out of a total of 281 polling stations in the Constituency. It is on record that on many occasions that the EC tried to complete the Ablekuma North Collation, thugs belonging to the NDC always stormed the collation centre to disrupt the exercise. The EC itself had cause to issue a formal statement accusing the NDC of masterminding the attacks on its offices and officials. We refer you to the press statement of the EC on 17th January 2025, where the EC stated categorically that supporters of the NDC led by the Greater Accra Regional Organizer of the NDC invaded the collation centre (Old Head Office) and destroyed the Commission’s properties, threatened their staff and caused them to flee because the environment had become unsafe.
6) The attacks on the EC, as widely captured by the media, were almost always orchestrated by the Ablekuma North Constituency Organizer of the NDC, Mr. Kalamu Adamu Musah. Typical of the NDC, this gang leader, Kalamu, who ought to be in jail for his lawless conduct, has rather been rewarded by President John Dramani Mahama, with the position of Municipal Chief Executive for Ablekuma North. Obviously, this was his reward for doing the NDC’s dirty work. And despite being rejected overwhelmingly by the Assembly Members during his confirmation exercise, the NDC government continues to recognize him as the MCE. Well, the aggrieved Assembly Members, led by the Presiding Member of the Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Sulley, have taken the matter to court to challenge the purported confirmation. So, we shall comment no further.
7) Ladies and gentlemen, despite all the gangsterism and frantic efforts by the NDC hoodlums to disrupt the Ablekuma North collation on many occasions, the EC still managed to collate some of the polling station results with the assistance of party agents. On 21st December 2024, the EC collated 25 polling station results out of the outstanding 62. The EC then invited all the parties on 5th January 2025 where additional 17 polling station results were collated, and on 6th January and 8th January 2025, 13 and 4 polling station results respectively were added to the tally making a total of 59 polling station results out of the outstanding 62 ordered by the High Court. For the avoidance of doubt, these collations were done in the presence of all the parties and verified by the Electoral Commission.
8) So, per the records, out of the 62 outstanding polling stations, there are only three(3) polling station results yet to be collated to complete the collation exercise as ordered by the High Court. The EC has on countless occasions by way of media interviews, press releases and official statements maintained that there are only three(3) remaining polling station results to be collated in Ablekuma North [play videos]. The EC, rightly so, came to this conclusion because it has lawfully collated the results of all the 59 out of the 62 outstanding polling stations, and the results were duly VERIFIED and CERTIFIED by officers of the Commission.
9) The Party wrote to the EC on 3rd June 2025 on the way forward towards the completion of the collation exercise as ordered by the High Court. In their official response to our letter, the EC stated emphatically that the Ablekuma North collation will be completed when the three(3) remaining polling station results are added, and that, they were only waiting for the police to provide them with security to collate the results of these three(3) polling stations. [show the NPP’s demand letter and the EC’s response].
10) In other words, the EC was clear in its mind that only three(3) polling stations were outstanding and were rather blaming the Police for their inability to collate these results. Indeed, the NPP, in a statement dated 18th June 2025, bemoaned the contemptuous conduct of the Ghana Police who were working under the instruction of the Minister for Interior and the Attorney General in failing and refusing to comply with the orders of the High Court to provide security to the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete the collation of the Ablekuma North parliamentary results. We stated in the statement that the EC had confirmed to us in their official response to our letter, referenced above, that, there was no court process stopping them from completing the collation of the results of the three(3) remaining polling stations.
11) As a matter of fact, the EC, on June 12, 2025, invited us to a meeting at their corporate office and indicated to all the parties that they were left with only three(3) polling stations to complete the Ablekuma North collation exercise. The Commission at that meeting gave the chronology of events regarding the collation exercise as we have explained.
12) It would also be recalled that as recently as Thursday 19th June, 2025, the EC, led by Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Bossman Asare, confirmed this factual narrative we have told you today when he appeared before the Parliament of Ghana (House of Record). He maintained strongly that as far as the records are concerned, there were only three(3) remaining polling station results yet to be collated by the EC to complete the Ablekuma North collation and to declare a winner. The EC even ruled out the possibility of conducting a rerun in these three(3) polling stations, noting that it would be the last resort.
13) So, ladies and gentlemen, there is absolutely no debate that there are only three(3) remaining polling stations yet to be collated. So, even if we were to accept a rerun, it definitely ought to be in these three(3) remaining polling stations. Why is the EC suddenly talking about conducting a rerun in as many as 19 polling stations? How did the EC come by that figure and since when did it occur to the Commission that these “19 scanned Polling Stations results used for the collation, though approved by Agents of both NPP and NDC, were not verified by its Presiding Officers”? Clearly, this talk-about 19 polling stations by the EC is only an afterthought and same should be completely REJECTED.
14) Interestingly, one of the 3 polling stations that both the EC and the political parties agreed to be outstanding in Ablekuma North, is conspicuously missing in the so called 19 polling stations that the EC claims it wants to rerun. So, when will that polling station results be collated? We are talking about the Glory Land Hotel Odorkor (1) with polling station code: C161205A. That is how God has chosen to expose the duplicity of the EC.
15) It is also noteworthy that no law in Ghana gives the EC the authority to order a rerun of elections it has duly conducted; neither the Constitution, nor the Representation of the People Law (PNDCL 284); nor the Public Elections Regulations, (C.I 127) gives such authority to the EC. Under the law, it is only a Court of competent jurisdiction that can order a rerun of elections duly conducted by the EC.
16) In any case, we have evidence that some of these Presiding Officers in the so called 19 polling stations were in fact at the collation center where they verified the results from their polling stations [show video]. In any case, per the rules of engagement set out by the EC following the court order, in the absence of the verification of the results of any polling station results by the party agents or the respective presiding officers, the EC would not and could not have added the said results to the collated figures. So, clearly, this latest excuse from the EC is misconceived and not supported by the facts on record as they themselves have previously communicated.
17) The only logical deduction that can be drawn from the EC’s sudden U-turn on this matter is that the commissioners are pandering to pressure and threats from the NDC government to do their bidding on Ablekuma North. We all heard the NDC National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah on JoyNews make the point that all the top officers of the Electoral Commission particularly the Chairperson and her two Deputies would be removed from office [play video]. We have also heard some leading members of the NDC vowing that they will reset the EC after resetting the Judiciary. It is pretty obvious that the Electoral Commissioners are moved by these threats and are hoping to use this Ablekuma North debacle to secure their positions. How disappointing!
18) If Ghanaians allow this collision between the NDC and the EC, it will set a very dangerous precedent in the conduct of public elections in our country, which is at the heart of our democracy. Essentially, it would mean that political parties no longer have to spend their scarce resources to campaign to voters before they win an election. Rather, the parties should spend their resources in thuggery and building internal militia, so that, when election results are being collated and they realize that their candidate is losing, they will simply unleash their party thugs to the collation centres to disrupt the collation and exercise and destroy every electoral material in sight particularly pinskeets and ballot papers.
19) The ‘losing political party’ will then compel the EC officials to declare their candidate as the winner or, in the alternative, call on the EC to conduct a rerun of the elections since there are no hard copies of pinksheets, knowing very well that they had destroyed the EC’s pinksheets and ballot papers, as we all saw the NDC do in Ablekuma North, Tema Central, Okaikwei Central, Fanteakwa North, Nsawan-Adoagyiri, Techiman South, Ahafo Ano North, Obuase East, Dome Kwabenya, Ahafo Ano South West, and several others in the 2024 elections [play videos showing NDC thugs vandalizing EC collation centres and compelling EC officials to declare their candidates as winners].
20) There are a lot of footages showing NDC thugs destroying pinksheets belonging to the NPP at the Ablekuma North EC collation centre. There is also enough footage showing NDC thugs destroying pinksheets and other electoral materials belonging to the EC. However, there is no single footage showing anybody destroying NDC pinksheets. This means that the NDC have the hardcopies of all their pinksheets intact. They are only refusing to bring out their pinksheeks especially in respect of polling stations that they lost. Where are the NDC pinksheets and why are they refusing to bring their pinksheets to confirm the results in polling stations that they lost? For the avoidance of doubt, the law allows the EC to rely on electronic records such as scanned copies of documents. Both the Evidence Act and the Electronic Transaction Act are clear on that.
21) Ladies and gentlemen, we fear that election 2028 and indeed, all subsequent general elections in this country will be very chaotic since the NDC has shown us the easiest way to win elections. If the country doesn’t want this shameful occurrence to stand, then we expect every peace-loving Ghanaian particularly moral society including the national peace council, traditional leaders, religious leaders and CSOs to add their voice in calling the NDC and the EC to order. The outcome of elections in Ghana cannot and should not be decided by self-orchestrated thuggery on the part of political parties. Electoral outcomes should and must only be decided by the votes validly cast by the voter.
22) The NPP wishes to remind the EC chairperson and her deputies to be bold, fearless and show fidelity to their oath of office. The Constitution of Ghana, under Article 46, guarantees the independence of the Commission and provides that: “in the performance of its functions, the Electoral Commission shall not be subject to the control or direction of any person or authority…” Certainly not Asiedu Nketiah and not the NDC.
23) For the avoidance of doubt, as per the requirement of the law, the polling station results that have been collated from all the 278 (out of the 281) polling stations in Ablekuma North have received the blessings of all the party agents and officers of the Electoral Commission including the Retuning Officer for the Constituency. No law has been breached. The Police must simply provide the EC with armed security as ordered by the High Court to enable the Commission complete the collation of the remaining three(3) polling station results. In any case, if as a nation, we cannot provide security to the EC to collate the results of only three(3) polling stations, what is the guarantee that we will be able to provide security for the collation of 19 polling stations?
24) 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. 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.
25) 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.
26) We are a nation of rule of law, and we owe it to our dear country and prosperity to rise above our parochial and partisan considerations in order to defend our democratic gains. We, in the NPP, shall stop at nothing in our quest to ensure that the powers that-be respect and uphold the democratic rights and sovereign will of the good people of Ablekuma North as expressed by them on the 7th of December 2024.
Thank you.
#ForGodAndCountry
