The New Patriotic Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Ablekuma North, Akua Afriyie, has opposed the Electoral Commission's decision to hold rerun elections in 19 polling stations of the Ablekuma North Constituency.

In an interview on Channel One News, Afriyie noted that the decision is unjustifiable as only three polling stations remained to be declared.

She noted that the opposition party will not accept a rerun expected to take place on Friday, July 11.

“I am not happy with it. We are not going to accept this decision. My reason is very simple. We have gone through all the collation, and we are at three polling stations for us to complete the collation and declaration, and so what changed? We had the EC coming to Parliament, swearing under oath that we have only three polling stations left, and consistently, that is what it has been so far,” she explained.

The Electoral Commission (EC), after extensive deliberations, noted that it will hold the rerun election because the 19 scanned polling station 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.

"It is instructive to note that, the Commission was able to secure the Presiding Officers' verification and confirmation for 18 scanned polling station results—agents of both parties also approved same. A rerun will therefore not be held in those polling stations," the Commission noted in a statement.

The EC arrived at this decision after it met with the representatives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Tuesday, July 1.

The meeting, which was a follow-up to an earlier meeting held on Thursday, 12th June, provided both parties the opportunity to brief the commission on any new developments regarding the said constituency.

The parties informed the Commission that their positions put forward at the last meeting remained unchanged.

The NDC held the view that the election should be rerun in thirty-seven (37) polling stations because scanned pink sheets from 37 polling stations, which were used to collate the results, were provided by the NPP.

The NPP was of the view that the results from three (3) outstanding polling stations be collated and a winner declared, since the NDC agents had verified and confirmed the scanned polling station results they presented.

Ablekuma North remains the only constituency in Ghana without a sitting MP, months after the 2024 general elections, due to unresolved disagreements over the outcome of the parliamentary vote.

On December 10, 2024, three days after the national polls, the EC declared Ewurabena Aubynn of the NDC the winner of the Ablekuma North parliamentary seat, defeating the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh.

However, the EC later revoked the announcement, revealing that results from 62 of the 281 polling stations had not been included in the initial collation.

Efforts to restart the collation in January 2025 were disrupted by multiple challenges.

These included interruptions due to the submission of unverified pink sheets and a violent intrusion at the collation centre that heightened security concerns.

By January 6, only seven polling station results remained uncollated. Yet the process came to a standstill as the EC began engaging both major political parties in an attempt to break the deadlock.

Both the NPP and the NDC have declared victory in the December parliamentary elections.

The NPP maintains that its candidate, Nana Akua Afriyie, emerged the winner based on Electoral Commission figures, while the NDC insists that Ewurabena Aubyn was rightfully elected by the people.

Appearing before Parliament on Thursday, June 19, the Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Corporate Affairs, Dr. Bossman noted the Commission will only resort to a re-run after all measures have been exhausted.

“So, for Ablekuma North, we have not reached the point where we will say we don’t have the results. When we try and we cannot get the results, that is when we will resort to the rerun. The rerun will be a last option,” he said.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, warned that the continued delay poses a serious threat to Ghana’s democratic reputation and the integrity of its electoral system.

He cautioned that how the dispute is handled will shape public trust in Ghana’s electoral processes well beyond the current cycle.

“This is a pivotal moment. The way we handle the collation in Ablekuma North will resonate across the country. It will set the tone, not only for this election, but also for public confidence in the years to come,” Dr. Yohuno stated.

Meanwhile, the EC has called on the Ghana Police Service to provide the needed security to ensure a safe environment for the conduct of the election.