High Court Throws Out Injunction Application in Ablekuma North NPP Rerun Case
The High Court has dismissed an attempt by Nana Akua Afriyie, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North in the 2024 elections, to stop a planned parliamentary election rerun in 19 polling stations set for July 11, 2025.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Ali Baba Abature, the court held that the application lacked merit. The judge emphasized that the Electoral Commission (EC) had a constitutional responsibility to ensure that the people of Ablekuma North were duly represented in Parliament. He further stated that halting the rerun would go against the public interest.
Afriyie had argued that the EC was disregarding a binding High Court decision from January 4, 2025, which had ordered the Commission to complete the collation of outstanding results from 62 polling stations and declare a winner for the December 7, 2024, election. According to her legal counsel, Gary Nimako, the EC had itself admitted publicly—through press statements and a parliamentary briefing by Deputy EC Chair Dr. Bossman Asare—that only three polling stations remained uncollated after that ruling.
Nimako questioned the legality and necessity of a rerun in 19 polling stations, insisting that the results from all stations had already been signed and certified by both presiding officers and political party agents. He cited Regulation 42 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), which only permits a rerun in the case of a tie—a scenario the EC had not claimed.
He further argued that if the EC had encountered challenges in implementing the January 4 court order, it should have returned to the High Court to seek clarification rather than acting on its own to conduct a rerun. Describing the EC’s conduct as contemptuous, he called the rerun unlawful and unwarranted.
However, since the motion was filed ex parte (without notifying the EC), the Commission was not present in court to respond. Despite this, the judge noted that Afriyie’s legal team failed to show that the outstanding results could be legally collated without further verification, as required by C.I. 127.
In his final remarks, Justice Abature said that while the candidate had the right to pursue her main case in court, the EC’s constitutional role must take precedence to avoid leaving the people of Ablekuma North without a representative. He added that any harm suffered by the applicant could be addressed with damages if her substantive challenge eventually succeeds.
“After carefully reviewing the motion, supporting affidavits, and legal arguments presented, I find the application for an injunction unmeritorious and hereby dismiss it,” the judge ruled.
By. Adwoa Nyarko Asiamah || 9 June 2025
