NDC to Appeal High Court’s Ruling on Parliamentary Result Collation

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has announced its intention to appeal the High Court’s ruling from Saturday, January 4, 2025, which directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete the collation and declaration of parliamentary results in the constituencies of Tema Central, Ablekuma North, Okaikwei Central, and Techiman South.

In a statement to the press following the court’s decision in Accra, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, the NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs, confirmed that the party had already prepared its notices of appeal. Tameklo emphasized that the matter is far from over, stating, “This matter is not yet over. Nobody should be deceived. It will not end here. We are appealing the decision.”

The court’s rulings addressed irregularities in the collation process in the aforementioned constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC) had failed to properly collate the full set of results from several polling stations in each of these areas, leading to the High Court issuing mandamus orders to compel the EC to complete the process and declare the results.

In the case of Tema Central, the court found that the declaration of results by an EC official who was not the authorized Returning Officer, along with incomplete collation, violated electoral rules. Justice Forson Agyapong ordered the EC to collate the results from the remaining two polling stations and have the authorized Returning Officer declare the results.

For Okaikwei Central, the court ruled that the EC had failed to collate results from 30 outstanding polling stations. Justice Agyapong directed the EC to complete the collation and declare the final results, with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) instructed to ensure armed security during the process.

In Ablekuma North, the court found that the EC had declared results from only 219 of 281 polling stations, leaving 62 unaccounted for. The court ordered the EC to complete the collation of these outstanding results and declare the final winner, with the IGP to provide security for the process.

Lastly, in Techiman South, Justice Agyapong ruled that the EC had failed to collate results from 147 polling stations. He directed the EC to complete the process and declare the winner, again instructing the IGP to provide adequate armed security during the collation.

The EC has been given until Monday, January 6, 2025, to complete the collation of results in the affected constituencies.