The High Court has thrown out an injunction application filed by Nana Akua Afriyie, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2024 parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North, which sought to stop the Electoral Commission (EC) from conducting a parliamentary election rerun in 19 polling stations within the constituency on Friday, July 11, 2025.
Presiding judge Justice Ali Baba Abature dismissed the motion, describing it as “unmeritorious” and holding that the balance of convenience favours the EC’s constitutional obligation to ensure representation for constituents in Parliament.
The applicant contended that the EC’s decision to organize a rerun contravened an earlier High Court ruling dated January 4, 2025. That ruling had directed the EC to complete the collation of results from 62 polling stations and declare a winner in the December 7, 2024, parliamentary election.
Representing the NPP, legal counsel Gary Nimako argued that the EC had already admitted through public statements and a January 27, 2025, press release, as well as a briefing to Parliament by Deputy Chair Dr. Bossman Asare that only three polling stations remained uncollated.
Nimako said a rerun in 19 polling stations was unjustified and violated the court’s authority. He argued that certified pink sheets from all polling stations had been duly signed by presiding officers and party agents on election day, rendering a rerun unlawful.
Citing Regulation 42 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), he insisted that a rerun is only valid in the event of a tie, a scenario the EC has not alleged.
Afriyie’s team further argued that if the EC faced challenges implementing the January ruling, it ought to have returned to court for clarification rather than unilaterally ordering a rerun, which they described as contemptuous.
Though the EC was absent during proceedings since the motion was ex parte, Justice Abature questioned whether the applicant had proven that collation could be legally completed without additional verification by presiding officers, a point he found unsubstantiated under C.I. 127.
In his decision, Justice Abature emphasized that the EC has the constitutional duty to conduct elections, and that delaying the rerun would deny Ablekuma North residents their right to parliamentary representation.
He also noted that should the applicant succeed in her substantive case, the EC, as a public institution, could be held liable to pay damages.
