The Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Dr Bossman Asare has stated the Attorney General’s pending advice is holding back on Ablekuma North collation.
According to Bossman Asare, the EC has taken several steps to complete the process but has been stalled due to the absence of security support, which is dependent on legal clarification from the Attorney General.
Speaking on the floor of parliament, Dr Bossman Asare stated, “On 28th March, the Commission again wrote to the Ghana Police Service and informed them about the three polling station results which are still outstanding and the need to complete collation.
In the same letter, the Commission requested a meeting at the earliest convenience of the security taskforce to agree on a date for the completion of the collation,” Dr. Asare noted.
He added, “At the scheduled meeting on the 8th May 2025, the collation process was scheduled to be completed on 15th May 2025 at the old quarters of the Commission”.
“…In the letter, the commission requested a meeting the next day, that is 16th May, to agree on a date for the completion of the election. The National Police Service and the National Security Taskforce in a response informed the commission that the issue of the completion of the collation of the Ablekuma North election has been referred to the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice for legal advice and further stated that because of the referral the National Security Taskforce will hold on until the legal advice is received. Since then, we have followed up with the police, and they have indicated they have not received advice from the AG.”
The Ablekuma North Constituency has remained without a Member of Parliament since the December 7 general elections.
It will be recalled, that the collation of Ablekuma North constituency results on January 8, 2025, at the electoral commission’s old office could not be concluded because three out of the 281 polling station result were outstanding.
The Electoral Commission was not able to collate the Ablekuma North constituency results again on January 17, 2025, because some party supporters invaded the premises and destroyed some properties.
The stalled declaration has now gone past over six months.
The Minority caucus formally petitioned the Ghana Police Service, on June 4 to provide security to enable the Electoral Commission to complete the re-collation process.
Meanwhile, the youth of Ablekuma North in the Greater Accra Region have raised concern over the absence of a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency in the 9th Parliament.
According to them, the development of the constituency will lag if the government does not address the challenges surrounding the declaration of the 2024 parliamentary results.
Some of the constituents say the absence of their representative in parliament will affect development in the constituency.
“If there is no other alternative to address the declaration of the 2024 parliamentary results in this constituency, the electoral commission should make the necessary arrangement for Ablekuma North constituency to re-run the parliamentary election again”, one youth suggested.
Another was of the view that, even though they want development in the constituency, without peace that cannot happen adding that both the NDC and NPP should understand and allow the electoral commission to complete the collation process.
