…Ready to declare controversial results amid political tensions
The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed the possibility of an immediate re-run of the 2024 parliamentary election in the Ablekuma North Constituency.
The commission clarified that results from three outstanding polling stations have yet to be collated but remain valid. The Commission shockingly said a re-run would harm Ghana’s democracy.
The collation of results has been delayed due to security concerns. The Ghana Police Service is currently awaiting advice from the Attorney General’s Department on how best to provide security to facilitate the process.
Recently, Presidential Advisor for Governmental Affairs, Dr Valerie Esther Sawyerr, called on the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, to order a rerun of elections at 62 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency, citing concerns over irregularities in the collation process.
Dr Sawyerr, a key personality in the ruling NDC, made this demand in a strongly-worded public statement released on Wednesday, June 11.
The statement, titled “The Saga of the Scanned Pink Sheets and Ablekuma North,” described what she called a “diabolic drama” involving the Electoral Commission’s alleged reliance on scanned pink sheets submitted by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the absence of original carbonated forms.
“No ground stomping, no walks from Timbuktu to Accra… will make what is wrong… right,” Dr Sawyerr wrote, stressing that the only fair solution is to “order a rerun at the sixty-two (62) polling stations… and stop wasting our time.”
But addressing Parliament yesterday, Thursday, 19 June 2025, the EC’s Deputy Chairperson in charge of Corporate Affairs, Dr Bossman Asare, explained that the Commission is not at the point of declaring the election inconclusive.
“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 re-run. The re-run will be a last option,” he stated.
The dispute arose after disruptions at the constituency’s collation centre during the 2024 general elections halted the process. Political tensions between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) further complicated the situation, with both parties contesting the incomplete results.
The EC’s current position is to complete the collation of the three remaining polling stations under police protection before considering a re-run, a move the Commission describes as a last resort.
Six months after the 2024 elections, constituents of Ablekuma North are yet to be represented in Parliament because the Returning Officer has yet to declare the results of three polling stations.
The results for the three polling stations are said to have been lost, as the EC itself has no copies of the results.
Several re-collation attempts by the EC have proved futile because both NPP and NDC party supporters have disrupted the re-collation exercise.
The EC has also petitioned the Ghana Police Service, seeking intense security measures for the results’ declaration. This has led to suggestions from some political quarters that a rerun of the Ablekuma North parliamentary elections could solve the stalemate.
Dr. Bossman Asare said reorganising the Ablekuma North elections would harm the country’s democracy.
He argued that, considering the processes achieved so far, it would not be advisable to organise a re-run of the Ablekuma North elections, adding that the processes must be allowed to continue to bring finality to the matter.
“The Commission strongly believes that for the processes that have gone on so far, if we go to the good people of this country that we are abolishing everything, it will not be good for our democracy so let’s allow the processes to continue,” he said on the floor of the House.
The EC continues to urge calm and patience as it works with relevant stakeholders to resolve the matter and ensure electoral transparency and integrity in the Ablekuma North Constituency.
Following a reported leakage, the EC also dismissed claims that it breached procurement procedures when it reprinted ballot papers for the 2024 general elections.
The controversy stems from violent incidents during the December 7, 2024, general elections, which reportedly led to the destruction of original carbonated pink sheets at the Ablekuma North collation centre.
Dr Sawyerr explained that while results from 219 of the 281 polling stations were properly collated, the remaining 62 were left without validated forms.
She criticised what she described as a shift in the Electoral Commission’s stance.
EC Director of Elections, Dr Benjamin Bannor Bio, had reportedly rejected the use of scanned pink sheets.
However, Dr Sereboe Quaicoe, the EC’s Director of Training, later overruled this decision, a move Dr Sawyerr questioned.
“On what authority does a Director for Training overturn the decision of a Director of Elections at this stage of the electioneering process?” she asked.
According to the report, the Electoral Commission subsequently accepted 42 scanned pink sheets submitted by the NPP.
Despite opposition from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the EC brought in 17 presiding officers to validate the scanned data.
Dr Sawyerr noted, however, that some of these officials were unable to verify the accuracy of the forms.
In her statement, Dr Sawyerr called for fairness and adherence to democratic principles, emphasising that peace in Ablekuma North hinges on restoring credibility to the process.
“The voice of the people must be heard… Let us all tell the EC that enough is enough. The scales of Lady Justice must stand balanced even as her blindfold signifies the absence of bias,” she urged.
She also rejected claims by the Electoral Commission that both political parties had agreed to accept the scanned pink sheets, describing the assertion as a “bold-faced lie.”
Dr Sawyerr ended her statement with a firm appeal for calm and accountability: “I am for peace… Shalom.”
In a related development, Dr Asare disclosed that the Commission spent GHS 3.6 million on reprinting presidential ballots and GHS 2.4 million on parliamentary ballots for the Eastern and Western Regions during the 2024 elections, underscoring the financial burden of potential reruns.
Dr Bossman Asare stated in Parliament that the Commission acted within the law and secured the appropriate approval from the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) before engaging the printing houses.
“There was no breach of the procurement law. The Commission wrote the CTRC on the 2nd of December, and the elections were supposed to take place on 7th December,” Dr Asare said.
Recently, Presidential Advisor for Governmental Affairs, Dr Valerie Esther Sawyerr, called on the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, to order a rerun of elections at 62 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency, citing concerns over irregularities in the collation process.
