Supreme Court to Hear NDC’s Challenge on Electoral Commission’s Re-Collation Orders

The Supreme Court is set to hear the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) application on Friday, December 27, 2024, challenging the High Court’s directive for the Electoral Commission (EC) to collate and re-collate parliamentary election results in six constituencies.

On December 20, 2024, the Accra High Court ordered the EC to finalize the election process in the six constituencies—Tema Central, Nsawam-Adoagyir, Ablekuma North, Ahafo Ano North, Techiman South, and Okaikwei Central—by conducting the necessary collation and declaring the winners in accordance with the country’s electoral laws.

In addition to the order for result collation and declaration, the court instructed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to provide adequate security at the collation centers to facilitate the EC’s work. This decision followed the granting of mandamus applications filed by parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the affected constituencies.

However, the NDC, along with its parliamentary candidates in the disputed constituencies, quickly filed a certiorari application at the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the High Court’s decision. The NDC claims that the High Court violated natural justice by failing to give their candidates a hearing before issuing the mandamus orders for re-collation. The party also argues that the High Court erred by not following proper procedures in directing the involved parties to serve the mandamus applications on those with interests in the matter.

Before the High Court’s ruling, the EC had already announced plans to re-collate the parliamentary results of nine constituencies, citing issues with the initial collation processes, such as incomplete result sheets (pink sheets) and alleged duress during the first count. As of December 21, the EC had completed re-collation for seven of the nine constituencies, with NPP candidates winning in all seven. These constituencies include Obuasi East, Nsawam Adoagyiri, Tema Central, Ahafo Ano North, Okaikwei Central, Ahafo Ano South West, and Techiman South.

The re-collation of the Dome-Kwabenya and Ablekuma North constituencies remains pending.