Minority Leader Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin has questioned the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to rerun 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North constituency, suggesting it may be driven by political pressure rather than constitutional duty.
His remarks raised in parliament come amid renewed controversy over how the EC is conducting its mandate following the 2024 general elections.
“The Deputy EC Chair, Dr. Bossman, sitting in for his boss, told us that all they need is security to enable them finish the three polling stations in the constituency. So now I ask a question – what has changed?”
Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Minority Leader
The EC’s announcement to conduct a rerun in a constituency it once assured it only needed security clearance to complete collation for, has sparked outrage within the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who maintain that such a move is unjustified.
At a press conference held earlier, NPP executives denounced the decision, describing it as “a betrayal of democratic principles” and “an abuse of discretion.”
“We should be careful as a country how we are managing this democracy,” Hon. Afenyo-Markin cautioned, warning that Ghana’s democracy is being put at risk when state institutions appear to bend under political pressure.
Without directly naming individuals, he alluded to public commentary by senior political figures in government surrounding the Ablekuma North results as a possible influence behind the EC’s abrupt change in posture.
He invoked the case of the Dome Kwabenya parliamentary seat in the elections, where a similar electoral situation had different outcomes.
“Today, we have a member in this chamber from Dome Kwabenya because when there were left with a few polling stations to decide the winner of the elections there, the EC relied on tally cards – tally cards”
Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Minority Leader
According to Hon. Afenyo-Markin, Mike Oquaye Junior, the NPP candidate in Dome Kwabenya, protested the tally card collation process but did so peacefully. “He did not carry his constituents to the EC Coalition Centre. He expressed his disagreement in a civil way,” the Minority Leader added.
Unequal Treatment
He lamented the seeming inconsistency in how the EC has handled various electoral disputes, from the same election, referencing the eventual seating of Hon. Faustina Elikplim Akurugu in Parliament as the Dome Kwabenya MP following the tally card outcome.
He decried the one-sidedness of the situation to Mike Oquaye Junior and the NPP, which eventually accepted the EC’s decision nonetheless. He contrasted this with the abrupt reversal of the EC.
“When it was clear that the EC was on course to complete the process for Ablekuma North, we are being told today that there’s going to be a rerun of some 19 polling stations. It is unfair. It is unjust”
Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Minority Leader
The EC’s current decision, he implied, may not only have been influenced by external political pressure from “certain extremists or hardliners,” but by self-preservation instincts in “a bid to secure their jobs” under the current government.
The New Patriotic Party has continued to protest the EC’s move. Party leaders have asserted that the rerun announcement lacks legal basis and accuse the Commission of setting dangerous precedents that could erode public trust in future elections.
They argue that if tally cards were sufficient in some constituencies, then there was no justification for rerunning results in others, especially without allegations of electoral malpractice.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin echoed these sentiments in Parliament, warning that political bias could become normalized in state institutions. “Maybe today, this action to rerun is helping some other people more than the NPP but tomorrow it may be their turn,” he said.
In the view of the Minority Leader, such selective applications of electoral rules threaten Ghana’s democratic fabric and create a perception of manipulation in favour of political expediency.
With Ablekuma North still unsettled months after the 2024 general elections, the controversy surrounding its outcome continues to fuel doubt and mistrust in the EC’s ability to amicably resolve the dispute.
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