The main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has announced that it will not be part of any rerun in the Ablekuma North Constituency.
NPP’s General Secretary Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong, strongly rejected the decision of the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a parliamentary rerun in 19 polling stations in that Constituency.
He insisted that the NPP candidate, Akua Afriyie, rightfully won the 2024 parliamentary election and should be declared as such.
Speaking at a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra yesterday, Mr. Kodua maintained that the NPP secured a clear victory in the constituency and accused the EC of undermining the will of the people by ordering a rerun.
“For us in the New Party Patriotic (NPP), we are resolute and we know that our candidate, Nana Akua Afriyie, won the elections with a margin of 414 votes.
“This is based on facts and figures. Yesterday, when the National Executive Committee met, we said that under no circumstances will we be intimidated.
“Under no circumstances will we go for a rerun. We will not go for any rerun. The New Patriotic Party will not go for any rerun. We have won the elections. What we are asking the Electoral Commission to do is to follow the court’s directive to finish the collation and declare our candidate, Akua Afriyie, as the MP for Ablekuma North,” the NPP General Secretary declared.
Mr. Kodua described the EC’s decision as unjust and urged the Commission to act in accordance with the facts and evidence presented during the electoral process.
The EC announced a rerun of the parliamentary election in 19 polling stations in Ablekuma North, giving reasons that political pundits believed are weird.
According to the country’s election management body, the rerun has become necessary because their presiding officers failed to verify the results on scanned sheets in those polling station.
However, the NPP upheld that all necessary procedures were followed and that the party’s agents, along with EC officials, had duly verified and signed the results at the polling stations involved.
Mr. Kodua’s remarks has added to mounting political tension surrounding the contested constituency, with the NPP insisting that any further delay in declaring Akua Afriyie as Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North constitutes a violation of the electoral mandate of the constituents.
The EC had initially declared the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Awurabena Aubynn, as the winner.
However, the NPP contested the results, citing discrepancies in the vote count.
It was later revealed that NPP’s Akua Afriyie won with 34,613 votes, beating the NDC’s Awurabena Aubynn, who polled 34,199 votes, resulting in a margin of 414 votes.
The EC is yet to respond formally to the NPP’s demands.
Declaration of the Ablekuma North constituency results has delayed since December 7, 2024 because some hoodlums believed to be members of the governing NDC destroyed all the pinks sheets containing the results at the collation centre.
By Collins Adu-Gyamfi
