Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa Dankwah, has suggested that the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to rerun parliamentary elections in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency may have been driven by legal risk mitigation, rather than just procedural errors.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, July 5, he questioned the basis of the EC’s move, speculating that the Commission likely discovered flaws in the contested polling stations that mirrored issues in others, which could have triggered broader legal challenges.
“I do not know the evidence the EC had for them to come to that conclusion. I suspect that they have found weaknesses in the evidence used in the remaining 16, that if they had to run the remaining three, it would probably draw the other 16 into it. So, to avoid legal wrangling going forward, they probably thought it wise to bring in all those polling stations that may have similar, not the same, but similar issues.”
His remarks come on the back of the Electoral Commission’s announcement that a rerun of the parliamentary election will be conducted in 19 polling stations in Ablekuma North. This follows a protracted disagreement between the NDC and the NPP over the credibility of results from the December 7, 2024, general election.
In a statement issued on July 2 and signed by Deputy Chairman of Operations, Samuel Tettey, the EC said the decision was reached after a July 1 meeting with both parties. The rerun is scheduled for Friday, July 11, 2025.
The NDC had raised concerns about the use of scanned Pink Sheets from 37 polling stations, alleging they lacked proper verification and were suspiciously submitted by the NPP. The party demanded a complete rerun in those polling stations.
In contrast, the NPP insisted that results from only three polling stations remained outstanding, arguing that all other scanned Pink Sheets had been verified by agents from both parties before the collation process was disrupted.
On the part of the Election Management Body(EMB), the scanned Pink Sheets were used after the original documents were destroyed when party supporters invaded the collation centre. As a result, a partial rerun in the 19 most contentious polling stations was deemed necessary to uphold electoral integrity.
Meanwhile, the Commission has assured the public of a fair, transparent, and credible process. The Ghana Police Service has also been tasked with providing security to maintain law and order on the day of the rerun.
