Ghanaian Court annuls 2024 Parliamentary Election over irregularities

A Ghanaian court has invalidated the December 2024 parliamentary election results for the Kpandai constituency, ordering electoral authorities to conduct a fresh poll within 30 days in a ruling that has created fresh tensions over electoral integrity in the West African nation.

The Tamale High Court’s Justice Emmanuel Brew Plange delivered the judgment following a petition by Daniel Nsala Wakpal of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who was in opposition at the time of the December election but whose party has since taken power nationally.

Wakpal challenged the victory of incumbent Member of Parliament Matthew Nyindam from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which governed Ghana during the December polls. The court found that serious irregularities had compromised the integrity of the vote, making it impossible to determine the true will of the electorate.

Wakpal’s legal team presented evidence of inconsistencies in Form 8A—locally known as the “pink sheet”—from 41 of the constituency’s 152 polling stations. These discrepancies, the petitioner argued, violated Regulations 39 and 43 of Ghana’s Public Elections Regulations (CI 127), the statutory framework governing the conduct of elections in the country. The court agreed, determining that the electoral commission’s non-compliance had materially affected the outcome.

The December election had initially appeared decisive. Nyindam secured 27,947 votes, representing 53.47 percent of ballots cast, while Wakpal trailed with 24,213 votes, or 46.33 percent. A third candidate from the All People’s Congress managed only 104 votes. The 3,734-vote margin between the two main contenders seemed substantial, yet the court’s finding suggests these numbers may have been built on compromised foundations.

Election day itself was chaotic. At the collation centre where votes are tallied and results certified, tensions erupted among NDC supporters who alleged vote-rigging. Witnesses reported that biometric verification devices were removed and ballots destroyed in the confusion. Security forces were deployed to restore order, but the damage to public confidence had been done.

At the heart of Wakpal’s legal challenge lay a procedural violation that his lawyers described as fundamental to democratic elections. The Electoral Commission’s district officer, they alleged, relocated the collation centre without notifying the candidates—a move that prevented the NDC representative from exercising statutory rights including requesting recounts and challenging irregularities as results were tabulated.

“We had a rogue electoral commission district electoral officer who decided to abuse discretion,” Wakpal’s counsel told journalists after the ruling.

“You don’t relocate the district or redesignate the collation centre without notice to the participating candidates. The failure to notify the petitioner of the relocation meant that clearly there was no way he could have participated in the collation and be able to exercise his rights.”

The lawyer framed the court’s decision as a restoration of popular sovereignty. “The power and the sovereignty lie with the people. It is for them to decide who their MP is, and you cannot be a beneficiary of such an incident and call yourself an MP.”

For the NDC, the ruling represents vindication of long-standing allegations about electoral malpractice. Rashid Tanko Computer, the party’s Deputy Director of Elections and IT, did not mince words when addressing reporters outside the courthouse. “All along, the NDC has been saying that there are several crooked electoral officers who are bent on stealing people’s mandates. And one of these is what has been exposed today.”

Computer went further, alleging that proper collation procedures were entirely abandoned. “They didn’t do the collation. They just organised themselves, ran to Tamale, cooked some results and announced Nyindam as parliamentary candidate elect.”

He emphasized that the NDC had pursued justice through legal channels rather than confrontation. “The NDC is the most lawful political party in Ghana. We didn’t use lawless means to get this verdict. We made sure that we followed through the process, and we have gotten a favourable judgment.”

Looking ahead to the ordered by-election, Computer issued a combative warning to the NPP. “I can assure you, we are appealing to our opponents, the NPP, they shouldn’t come for the by-election because we will hand them some heavy defeats. If they still want to have some kind of respect for the good people of Ghana, they should chicken out like they chickened out in Tamale Central.”

The NPP has not conceded defeat. Lawyers for Nyindam immediately filed for a stay of execution pending the determination of an appeal, signaling their intention to fight the ruling through Ghana’s appellate courts. Whether they will succeed remains uncertain, but the legal battle is far from over.

The Kpandai case offers a window into the challenges facing Ghana’s democratic institutions. While the country is widely regarded as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies, with a track record of peaceful power transfers, this ruling highlights persistent concerns about electoral administration and the technical capacity of officials tasked with managing complex voting processes. The relocation of a collation centre without notification—if proven—represents not merely a procedural error but a fundamental breach of transparency that strikes at the heart of electoral legitimacy.

For the people of Kpandai, the court’s decision means they will return to the polls within a month to settle a question that many thought had been answered in December. The Electoral Commission now faces the daunting task of organizing a credible rerun that can withstand scrutiny and restore public confidence in a constituency where trust has been severely damaged. Whether this by-election will proceed smoothly or replicate the chaos of December remains to be seen, but all eyes in Ghana’s political establishment will be watching closely.

The stakes extend beyond a single parliamentary seat. In a country where electoral disputes have occasionally sparked violence and threatened democratic progress, the court’s decisive intervention represents both a test of judicial independence and a reminder that procedural integrity matters as much as vote tallies. For Ghana’s democracy, getting Kpandai right the second time is essential.