EC justifies rerun in Ablekuma North, assures transparent and peaceful polls on 11 July

The Electoral Commission (EC) has addressed the media ahead of tomorrow’s parliamentary election rerun in the Ablekuma North Constituency, emphasizing that the decision to rerun polls in 19 polling stations was made to preserve electoral credibility and transparency.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday (10 July), Dr Bossman Asare, Deputy Chair of the EC, explained that although results from the affected polling stations were initially approved by political party agents, they lacked verification from the presiding officers—a critical breach of electoral procedure.

“The commission decided to re-run the election in the 19 polling stations because the results used for collation, though approved by agents of both political parties, were not verified by the presiding officers responsible,” Dr Asare stated.

He noted that the commission had managed to secure confirmation from 18 of the 19 presiding officers involved, validating the authenticity of the results they submitted.

However, in keeping with its commitment to electoral integrity, the EC concluded that rerunning the election in all 19 polling stations was necessary to remove any doubts.

The rerun follows a deadlock in completing the collation process for the 7 December 2024 parliamentary elections due to disputes over the results in Ablekuma North. Despite weeks of engagement with both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), efforts to build consensus have not succeeded.

“It is obvious that the commission’s efforts have yielded no results. But we must stress that the collation process has been transparent, participatory, and accountable,” Dr Asare added.

The commission also rejected allegations of external influence, following rumors suggesting that some individuals had pressured the EC into pursuing a rerun. Dr Asare strongly refuted such claims.