Election 2024: Court Orders EC To Complete Collation Of Results In Tema Central And 3 Constituencies

• The Electoral Commission has been instructed by the High Court in Accra to finalise the collation of four disputed constituencies
• The court ruled that the declaration of results at the Parliamentary level was not properly done
• The NDC has, however, objected to the ruling and filed a suit at the Court of Appeal

The High Court in Accra has granted the New Patriotic Party's Mandamus application to compel the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete collation of the 2024 parliamentary results in four disputed constituencies.

Justice Forson Agyapong, in a ruling delivered on January 4, 2024, held that the collation of election results in the four disputed constituencies, namely, Tema Central, Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, and Techiman South, was not properly done, hence the need for the EC to do the right thing.

The High Court has, therefore, instructed the EC to complete the collation of the disputed constituencies by Monday, January 6, 2025.

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4 disputed constituencies

With Tema Central, for instance, the judge, in his ruling, stated that the results of two polling stations were not collated. He added that a declaration made during an election is not legally valid if it was not done by a returning officer.

Turning to Ablekuma North, Justice Agyapong, in his ruling, averred that the decision by the Electoral Commission to declare the results from 219 out of 281 polling stations was wrong, particularly in the case where 62 polling station results had not been collated.

In the case of Okaikwei Central, the judge found that the EC was negligent in its duties by declaring results based on 110 out of 141 polling stations.

Finally, for Techiman South, the judge noted that EC declared results based only on the 135 out of 282 polling stations.

Justice Agyapong has therefore directed the EC to collate outstanding polling station results in these constituencies, after which it would be added to the previously declared results.

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NDC objects to the High Court ruling

The Deputy Director of Elections and IT, Dr Rashid Tanko, for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said that the party will not accept the High Court's ruling.

Dr Tanko expressed discontent over the verdict in an interview after the ruling.

"Someone has come to tell you a pack of lies, yet those people were not cross-examined, yet you ruled in favour of those lies. Do you think we are going to allow this to stand?"

He announced that the NDC had filed a suit challenging the ruling at the Court of Appeal and warned the EC to be circumspect in handling this case.

"Why do you expect the NDC as a party to allow this charade to continue? We are not going to accept it. We have filed a process at the Court of Appeal. Nobody is going to do any collation whatsoever in that place. We are going to resist with all the legal powers that we have.

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"We are telling the EC that they should not be lawless. If they do anything lawless in the case, we will come after them," he said angrily.

EC affirms Akurugu as Dome Kwabenya MP-elect

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the National Democratic Congress' Elikplim Akurugu has been affirmed as the winner of the Dome Kwabenya seat by the EC.

This comes after the EC rescinded an earlier decision to rerun the election in one outstanding polling station amid controversy.

This announcement came at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) emergency meeting on December 31, 2024.

Source: YEN.com.gh