Ablekuma North rerun dangerous – Miracles Aboagye warns

Dennis Miracles Aboagye, aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has strongly criticised the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to conduct a rerun of parliamentary elections in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North Constituency.

He described the move as a dangerous precedent that could undermine the credibility of Ghana’s electoral system.

The EC’s decision has been met with mixed reactions, with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) welcoming the rerun, insisting it won the seat during the December 7, 2024, election. However, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rejected the decision, accusing the EC of disregarding a court directive and acting in contempt.

Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Miracles Aboagye argued that the EC’s action could open the door for politically motivated disruptions in future elections.

“What this Ablekuma North scenario is saying is that when you conduct an election in this country and one party feels that they have lost, and that it is not working in their favour, they can besiege the polling station or the collation centre, and tear apart the election materials and there is confusion, they will call for a rerun. You can imagine how the country will become when every party decides to do that moving forward,” he said.

He cautioned that if election materials can be destroyed and a rerun granted, it could set a bad precedent. To illustrate, he referenced his home constituency.

“Where I come from, Akuapem North is an NPP stronghold; the NDC cannot come there and tell us to conduct a rerun in that constituency. We will choose which constituency we want you to conduct the rerun in.

“You know how we will do that; we will just destroy election materials. When we are done, it will throw the process into confusion, and then we will refer to the precedence, which is that when you succeed in destroying electoral materials. Then you will come and call for a rerun, and it will be done for you.

“This is a bad precedent, and it is not good for all of us. It is not even in the interest of the NDC nor in the interest of the NPP,” he said.

His comments come a day after NPP General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong also rejected the rerun. At a press conference on July 8, he reaffirmed that the party would not participate, maintaining that their candidate, Nana Akua Afriyie, won the 2024 parliamentary election with a margin of 414 votes.

“The NPP is firm in its stance. Our candidate, Nana Akua Afriyie, won the election based on facts and figures. During our National Executive Committee meeting, we agreed that under no circumstances will we participate in a rerun,” Kodua said.

He further urged the Electoral Commission to adhere to the court’s directive by completing the collation of results and officially declaring Nana Akua Afriyie as the elected Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North.