The Ablekuma North Constituency Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frederick Green, has alleged that the Electoral Commission (EC), in collaboration with the sitting government, manipulated the just-ended parliamentary rerun to rob the party of victory.

Speaking on Channel One News on Friday, July 11, shortly after the announcement of results, Green said the outcome did not come as a surprise to the NPP, as they had long anticipated what he described as a coordinated effort to skew the electoral process against their candidate.

“We are not surprised that this was going to happen because we’ve been robbed,” he said. “We won, but the EC and the sitting government did everything they could to manipulate this election. Is this the kind of democracy we want to practice in Ghana?”

According to him, the party had already collated results from all polling stations after the December 7, 2024, general election and was only awaiting the collation of three outstanding polling stations. Instead, he claimed, the EC opted to rerun elections in 19 polling stations, a decision he says the party was neither informed of nor agreed to.

“We have the pink sheets for all 19 polling stations, and we won in about 15 of them in 2024,” he stated. “So what they wanted to do was to skew us out and manipulate the electoral process. But we believe in the rule of law, so we’re calm and we accept it in good faith.”

Green’s comments come on the back of a historic win by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ablekuma North Constituency, where Ewurabena Aubynn emerged victorious on Friday, July 11’s parliamentary rerun. This marks only the second time since 1992 that the NDC has captured the traditionally NPP stronghold seat.

The rerun was triggered by legal and procedural irregularities during the December 7, 2024, election. Disputes over unendorsed pink sheets from 19 polling stations prompted the EC to withhold its final declaration.

While a January 2025 High Court ruling instructed the EC to complete collation, continued issues with missing signatures and unresolved disagreements led to the controversial decision to conduct a fresh rerun in the affected stations.

The NPP initially announced a boycott of the rerun, calling the EC’s decision a betrayal. However, its candidate, Nana Akua Afriyie, defied the party’s directive and re-entered the race, backed by some grassroots supporters and key party figures.

Despite pre-election tensions, the polls went ahead across all 19 stations on July 11. However, violence marred parts of the process, with reports of assaults on Akua Afriyie and former Fisheries Minister, Hawa Koomson. The Ghana Police Service later interdicted an officer captured on video assaulting a journalist at a polling centre.

By the close of counting, NDC’s Ewurabena Aubynn had polled 34,090 votes, narrowly defeating Akua Afriyie, who garnered 33,881 votes. The result ended nearly eight months of political uncertainty and handed the NDC a symbolic and strategic win.

Ablekuma North had been a stronghold for the NPP. The result signals a shifting political landscape in the Greater Accra Region, where traditionally safe seats are becoming increasingly competitive.