The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has reiterated its firm call for a rerun of the parliamentary elections in Ablekuma North, rejecting what it describes as an unlawful and unprocedural reliance on scanned pink sheets in the collation of results.
Mahdi Gibril, the party’s Deputy Director of Elections and IT, insisted that due process must prevail, not just for the sake of the constituency but to preserve the integrity of Ghana’s democratic framework.
According to Gibril, Ablekuma North’s collation process has been plagued by irregularities from the outset. Out of 281 polling stations, the Electoral Commission (EC) was only able to collate results from 165 by the evening of December 7, 2024.
Violence at several centers allegedly led to the destruction of 116 pink sheets. “From that point, EC came out and said they don’t have pink sheets,” Gibril said. He explained that it is the duty of the EC to provide the original pink sheets during collation.
However, in cases where the EC lacks them and political parties hold valid copies, the law allows the EC to proceed with agreed-upon documents. On December 9, the NDC submitted 54 hardcopy pink sheets that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) accepted, enabling the process to continue and bringing the total to 219.
“Then the NPP went to court that since there were about 62 more polling stations, you can’t collate and you can’t declare the winner. The court agreed with them and asked that we should go and then continue the process”
Mahdi Gibril, NDC Deputy Director of Elections
On December 23, the NPP provided 25 carbonated pink sheets, which were accepted and added. However, with no more pink sheets available from either party, the process stalled. The EC then invited both parties to an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, during which the issue of scanned documents emerged.
At the meeting, the NPP claimed to possess scanned pink sheets from 37 polling stations, a claim the NDC challenged. “Our first question was, if you have a scanned document, why couldn’t you present it on December 9?” Gibril asked, pointing out the delayed appearance of scanned copies as problematic.
Despite these concerns, the EC allegedly began relying on scanned documents, verifying 34 of the 37 by contacting presiding officers to confirm their authenticity – an approach Gibril dismissed as illegal.
The NDC claims it was not involved in the verification process for the 34 scanned documents and protested the EC’s unilateral action. At another IPAC meeting in January 2025, the EC claimed only three polling stations remained.
“We raised the issue that ‘no, we were dealing with 37 with you at IPAC but now you say you did 34? How did you do it?’ Then the NPP left the meeting”
Mahdi Gibril, NDC Deputy Director of Elections
Further complicating the issue, the EC admitted that some presiding officers had retained pink sheets from election day, took them home and only presented them weeks later to come and compare with the NPP scanned documents.
When asked if presiding officers are permitted to retain pink sheets, the EC reportedly responded that such conduct was illegal. “How do you use illegality to confirm something like these scanned documents and expect us to accept the results as true?” Gibril pressed, asserting the NDC’s refusal to endorse results derived through such means.
The matter escalated when the EC informed the police it was ready to proceed with collation, prompting the NDC to issue a counter-notification after the NPP presented their petition over the issue to the IGP.
“We also wrote to the police that ‘no, the EC is not being truthful to the issues,’” Gibril said. He accused the EC of failing to back its decisions with legal authority and criticized its shifting stance.
With the EC now declaring that a rerun is only a “last option,” Gibril posed a question that remains unresolved: “Which begs a question, when will be the time for that option? What is the best right now?”
READ MORE: BoG Deputy Governor Sounds Alarm as Cybercrime Costs Africa $4 Billion Annually
