It’s victory for Ewurabena Aubynn - Wins Ablekuma North to consolidate NDC's majority to 185 seats
Ewurabena Aubynn of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been declared the winner of the Ablekuma North Constituency parliamentary election, ending seven months of acrimony, legal battle and uncertainties that characterised the closely fought election.
She polled 34,090 votes to sail past her sole contender, the New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, who secured 33,881 votes, with 411 ballots being rejected.
Before the rerun of the election in 19 polling stations, Ms Afriyie was leading the collated results from 262 polling stations out of the constituency’s 281 polling stations with 32,512 votes against Ms Aubynn’s 32,464, a difference of 48 votes.
However, the tide turned in favour of Ms Aubynn after yesterday’s rerun in the 19 polling stations, enabling her to break the 28-year straight dominance of the NPP in Ablekuma North.
Addressing the media at the Greater Accra Regional office of the Electoral Commission (EC), which was the collation centre, Ms Aubynn attributed her victory to both the hard work of the NDC party in the constituency and the performance of its government, led by President John Dramani Mahama.
Context
Apart from 1992, when the NDC occupied the Ablekuma North parliamentary seat because the NPP boycotted the parliamentary election, the latter has won the legislative elections from 1996 to 2020.
The Ablekuma North parliamentary election rerun was to bring finality to the dispute over the winner of the parliamentary election in the constituency in the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election.
This victory also brings the total number of the seats held by the NDC in parliament to 185.
There are four other independent candidates that are doing business with the NDC caucus in parliament, enabling it to marshall about 189 MPs for major decisions.
Incidents
The rerun election was largely smooth except for pockets of incidents recorded during the voting process in two of the 19 polling stations, which nearly marred the polls.
Voting came to a halt at the Methodist Church Odorkor 1 polling station, as some party thugs forcibly entered the church premises.
According to eyewitnesses, the confusion erupted when the former Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East, Hawa Koomson, visited the polling station to observe the process.
The eyewitness indicated that Ms Koomson had earlier visited the polling station to observe the process and later returned, but she defied the police's directive to leave the centre.
The Daily Graphic team witnessed a physical altercation between some party thugs at the entrance of the church premises.
However, relative calm returned to the centre at 11:40 a.m. when the thugs who had returned were stopped by the police, who were in their numbers, from entering the premises.
At the Odorkor Presby 4 polling station, voting was again halted because some voters wanted the process to be located in the open space, instead of a classroom where the electoral officers had set up.
This disrupted voting for some time, and it took the intervention of the police and the District Director of the EC to relocate the setup outside, under tents.
Journalists assaulted
There were also assaults on two journalists. Kwabena Agyekum Banahene, a journalist with the EIB Network (GHOne TV and Starr FM), was slapped by a police officer at one of the Church of Pentecost North Odorkor polling stations at Tsuimamli, while Salomey Nartey of the Multimedia Group was attacked by a thug while they were covering the parliamentary election rerun in the constituency.
The Police Administration has since interdicted the police officer.
Party leaders
Several leading members of the NDC and the NPP were seen at polling stations. On the NDC side, the Daily Graphic team spotted the National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who toured some of the polling stations, the Deputy General Secretary, Mustapha Gbande; the Head of Legal Affairs, Edudzi Tameklo, and the Deputy Communications Director, Malik Basintale.
For the NPP, the members who were spotted monitoring the election included the MP for Akuapem North, Sammi Awuku; MP for Assin South, John Ntim Fordjour; a former Greater Accra Regional Minister, Titus Glover, and a former Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye.
GJA condemns attacks
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned the inhumane treatment meted out to the journalists.
“The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) vehemently condemns the brutal and unprovoked assault on Kwabena Agyekum Banahene, a journalist with the EIB Network (GHOne TV and Starr FM), by a police officer and a JoyNews reporter of the Multimedia Group, Salomey Nartey, while they were diligently covering the parliamentary election rerun in the Constituency.
“This deplorable incident occurred at the moment when the Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and the Minister of State for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, were giving assurances of supporting the GJA in the fight against attacks on journalists and ensuring a favourable environment for the media to operate at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected National Executive of the GJA in Accra,” the GJA President, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, said.
He said that showed a stark contrast between the stated commitment and on-the-ground reality, saying “this is deeply alarming, unfortunate and unacceptable”.
The GJA president said the egregious act was a direct assault on press freedom, a fundamental pillar of the country’s democracy, and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.
While commending the Police Administration for interdicting the officer who slapped the journalist instantly, the GJA demanded an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation into this matter.
“We call on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Christian Tetteh Yohonu, to act and ensure that swift and decisive disciplinary action is taken to serve as a deterrent to others,” Mr Dwumfour demanded.
Winner comments
Ms Aubynn thanked her supporters, party bigwigs, lawyers and the media for their untiring efforts.
She said the media’s resolve to shine the spotlight on the election in that constituency, exposing any wrongdoing, partly contributed to the successful conclusion of the poll.
Court order
On January 4, this year, the High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Forson Baah Agyapong, ordered the EC to collate and declare the results of 62 outstanding polling stations in addition to the 219 already collated in the constituency.
The ruling followed a legal action by Ms Afriyie, who filed a mandamus application to compel the EC to complete the collation of the full results.
The court held that the EC had failed in its mandatory duty by declaring the NDC candidate winner without collating results from all 281 polling stations.
In response to the judgment, the EC commenced collation on January 6, this year, but could only complete the process for 59 out of the 62 outstanding polling stations, leaving three unresolved due to disagreements between the parties involved.
Subsequently, on July 2, the EC fixed July 11 as the date for a rerun of the parliamentary election in 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency.
NPP
The NPP at a press conference addressed by the party’s General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong on July 8, 2025 announced that the party would not take part in any rerun of elections in the 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North constituency on Friday, July 11, 2025.
Subsequently, Ms Afriyieh filed an ex-parte application that sought to temporarily prevent the EC from re-running elections at 19 out of 281 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency but the High Court presided over by Justice Ali Baba Abature, dismissed the application as unmeritorious.
She was praying the court to halt the EC's election proceedings for 10 days to allow the EC to justify its failure to comply with an existing High Court order dated January 7, 2025, regarding the collation and declaration of results from 62 outstanding polling stations, in addition to the 219 already collated in the constituency.
The judge stated that the balance of convenience favoured the respondents (EC), who had the constitutional mandate to conduct elections, ensuring that the people of Ablekuma North have proper representation in Parliament, which is their constitutional right.
Reason for rerun
The contending parties were in dispute over the results of 37 polling stations, each raising concerns about the acceptability of the results.
The EC explained that the rerun was necessary because results from the 19 polling stations, although approved by agents of both political parties, were not verified by the presiding officers responsible for those stations.
