Ablekuma North Re-run: NPP, NDC Slug It Out

Ewurabena Aubyn and Nana Akua Afriyie

 

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) are set to battle it out for the last remaining seat in Parliament, as the Electoral Commission (EC) re-runs elections in 19 out of 281 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency.

The re-run, though taking place at 19 polling stations, has sparked a fierce contest between the two parties which all claimed to have won the seat, with each mounting a ‘thank you’ billboard in the constituency.

The area has been without a representation in Parliament since the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election as a result of the EC’s inability to declare a winner following an electoral process characterised by confusion, agitations and pockets of violence.

The uncertainty surrounding the eventual winner landed the case in court, and the High Court on January 4, 2025, ordered the EC to complete the collation process and announce the winner by January 6, 2025.

However, the EC was unable to complete the collation exercise as a result of disagreements between both the leadership and supporters of the NDC and the NPP, as several attempts by the EC to complete the exercise were unsuccessful.

The EC on July 2, 2025, finally decided to re-run elections in 19 polling stations in order to complete the collation exercise, a decision many observers described as an afterthought, while others say it sent a bad signal about the electoral body’s management of the whole situation.

The EC’s decision, however, is largely informed by disagreements between the NDC and the NPP about the authenticity of some of the results declaration forms (pink sheets) used by the EC during the collation process.

The NPP had expressed its outright objection of the decision to re-run the election in the 19 selected polling stations, indicating that it will not participate in the exercise which it said defied the orders of the High Court.

“We have undeniable evidence to show that we won the Ablekuma North election. When the National Executives met, they said under no circumstances will we be intimidated, coerced to go for a re-run. The NPP will not go for a re-run, we have won the election,” General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frimpong emphasised during a press conference.

He added that “We will not go for any re-run. We have won the elections. What we are asking the Electoral Commission is to follow the court directive, finish the collation, and declare our candidate, Akua Afriyie, as the MP-elect for Ablekuma North.”

However, the party’s candidate, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie took matters into her hands and declared her intention to contest the election, thereby defying the stance of the party.

Her decision came at the back of a High Court’s refusal of an application she filed to halt the re-run, after the court presided over by Justice Ali Baba Abature held that the application was unmeritorious.

Addressing the press yesterday, she confirmed that her name is on the ballot and that she will be participating in the re-run of the election which she had won massively.

“I am contesting, I want Ablekuma North, everybody to hear my voice, I am contesting this election and I am coming out victorious because I won that election, and God will ensure that justice prevails,” she said.

Asked why it took her until yesterday to declare her intention to contest, she indicated that she had wanted the court to deal with her motion for interlocutory injunction before she took a step.

“If the injunction had succeeded, that’s fine, then we would go back to the drawing table. But now, I had to recoup myself, come back together and see… so, when I realised that the support is so massive, people were coming here asking me to contest, not to withdraw, they are going to vote for me, that they voted for me and, so I shouldn’t relent,” she explained.

Her decision to contest the re-run, in spite of the party’s position on the matter, has drawn both criticism and admiration, with the public split on her choice.

However, reports suggest that Madam Afriyie has received massive support, including cash donations from some top ranks of the NPP to support her one-day campaign ahead of the re-run.

BY Gibril Abdul Razak & Ebenezer K. Amponsah

 

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