The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has filed a contempt case against the Electoral Commission (EC), accusing it of defying a court directive by announcing a rerun of the Ablekuma North parliamentary election.
According to the party’s General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, the court had explicitly ordered the EC to collate the remaining results from outstanding polling stations and declare a winner, not to organise a fresh election.
Speaking on JoyNews on Tuesday, July 8, Kodua said the party had formally cited the Commission for contempt. “That is why we are in court. Do you know the details of our writ?” he asked rhetorically. “The EC has been cited for contempt because the directive from the court is clear—collate and declare. You cannot vary the court’s order.”
Kodua emphasised that the Electoral Commission lacked the legal mandate to independently call for a rerun when a binding court decision had directed otherwise. “It is not within the EC’s power to arbitrarily decide on a rerun based on its own assessments,” he said. “Such an action would set a dangerous precedent.”
He stressed that the proper course of action for the Commission, if it had reservations about enforcing the order, would have been to return to court for further direction or clarification. “If the EC found the court’s directive difficult to implement, the only legitimate step would be to seek a varied order—not take matters into its own hands,” he added.
Kodua also raised serious concerns about the earlier disruptions during the collation process. He questioned the failure of security agencies to maintain order and suggested possible political interference. “Are we saying the police deliberately failed to secure the collation process because they were acting in the interest of the government?” he asked.
He further criticised the EC for allegedly depending on the NPP’s scanned pink sheets after original documents were destroyed in the chaos. “We had already scanned all 281 pink sheets and tabulated the results. Our candidate had 34,613 votes compared to 34,199 for the NDC—a clear margin of 414 votes. We knew the outcome before we got to the EC,” Kodua stated.
Despite having used those figures during the earlier collation process, the EC has now changed course and announced plans to rerun elections in 19 polling stations—an action the NPP rejects outright.
With the rerun scheduled for July 11, the NPP has vowed not to participate and insists the Electoral Commission must comply fully with the court’s original order.
Story By: Afia Ohenewaa Akyerem