Akua Owusu Afriyie with Gary Nimako Marfo after the court proceeding
A High Court in Accra has dismissed an application for interim injunction to restrain the Electoral Commission (EC) from going ahead to re-run elections in 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency on July 11, 2025.
The court, presided over by Justice Ali Baba Abature, in a short ruling held that the application is unmeritorious as the balance of convenience tilts in favour of the EC, which has the constitutional mandate to conduct elections for the people of Ablekuma North Constituency.
The court further held that the EC, which is a finger of the executive arm of government, would be in a position to adequately compensate Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate in damages should she win the substantive case.
Gary Nimako Marfo, counsel for the applicant, had urged the court to halt the re-run for a period of 10 days within which the EC was to appear before the court to show cause why it failed to comply with the express orders of a High Court which ordered it to collate outstanding results and declare a winner.
Judicial Review
The New Patriotic Party’s candidate for the Ablekuma North Constituency, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie has filed an application at the High Court to set aside the decision of the EC to re-run elections in 19 polling stations in the constituency.
According to the application, this decision goes against the January 4, 2025 decision of a High Court which ordered the EC to collate the results in four disputed constituencies, including Ablekuma North and declare a winner.
Several attempts to complete the collation in Ablekumah North have failed due to agitations and misunderstandings between supporters of the two major parties; the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), leaving the constituency without a representation in Parliament.
On July 2, the Electoral Commission announced that it will re-run voting in 19 out of the 281 polling stations in the constituency, and fixed July 11 for the exercise.
This drew criticisms from many who described the decision as illegal and an afterthought.
The NPP, in particular, rejected the decision and stated that it will not take part in the re-run, and encouraged the EC to complete the collation as ordered by the court and declare its candidate the winner.
Injunction
While the application for judicial review was pending and due to the urgency of the matter, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie filed an application for interim injunction for 10 days.
Moving the motion, Director of Legal Affairs of the NPP, Gary Nimako Marfo argued that the EC had been consistent in communications, press releases, and briefing in Parliament that there were only three outstanding polling stations yet to be collated.
“My Lord, even in the parliamentary briefing by the Electoral Commission, the Deputy EC Chairperson, Dr. Bossman Asare was emphatic under oath in Parliament that there were only three outstanding polling stations yet to be collated and that they required security to enable them collate the outstanding three polling stations,” he disclosed.
He further argued that the EC had been proceeding on a subsisting High Court order dated January 4, 2025 and therefore, if it had any difficulty complying with the express terms of the said order, it ought to have gone back to the court to vary the order instead of taking decisions different from what the court directed.
Mr. Nimako added that if the court did not exercise its discretion to grant the injunction, the EC “will proceed to re-run 19 out of the 281 polling stations in express violation of a subsisting High Court judgment which would be an affront in authority and the power of this very court differently constituted.”
Justice Abature, in his ruling, dismissed the application on ground that it lacked merit.
He also added that the EC has the constitutional mandate to conduct elections for the people of Ablekuma North Constituency in general to have a representation in Parliament, which is their constitutional right.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak