Supreme Court nullifies re-collated votes in 4 constituencies, parliamentary election litigation imminent

The Supreme Court has nullified the results of re-collated votes in Tema Central, Ablekuma North, Techiman South, and Okaikwei Central from the 2024 parliamentary elections.

The court clarified that its decision does not affect the results in Ahafo Ano North and Nsawam Adoagyiri.

Delivering the judgement, the apex court ruled that the trial judge violated the rights of the NDC parliamentary candidates by proceeding without granting them a hearing, breaching the principles of natural justice.

The ruling overturns the controversial re-collation conducted by the Electoral Commission (EC) and subsequent declarations in the affected constituencies.

Despite nullifying the re-collated results, the Supreme Court affirmed that the mandamus application remains valid and is set to be heard by the High Court on Tuesday, December 31.

The NDC had previously accused the High Court judge of bias and procedural errors in ordering the EC to re-collate results in the disputed constituencies.

The December 20 ruling, which has now been reversed, directed the EC to re-collate votes in nine constituencies after NPP parliamentary candidates highlighted discrepancies and requested verification to ensure accuracy.

The EC has already complied with the directive in seven constituencies, though re-collation remains incomplete in Dome-Kwabenya and Ablekuma North.

Meanwhile, some commentators foresee a potential parliamentary election dispute following the gazetting of results for seven constituencies after the EC’s redeclaration last week.

They argue that the NPP may opt to withdraw its earlier mandamus application, which sought to compel the EC to finalise collation in the disputed constituencies.

Additionally, they suggest the EC could assert that the re-collation and redeclaration were undertaken independently, not as a result of the High Court directive triggered by the mandamus application.