The National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Trobu constituency, John Kofi Halm, has filed a legal challenge contesting the declaration of Gloria Owusu of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the winner of the December 7 parliamentary poll.
The lawsuit, initiated by Mr. Halm, names multiple respondents, including the Electoral Commission (EC) Headquarters, the Electoral Commission’s Trobu District Office, and the Clerk of Parliament, who are listed as the second, third, and fourth respondents, respectively.
Halm says in his suit that there were alleged irregularities that he claims undermined the integrity of the electoral process in the constituency.
In the election, Gloria Owusu garnered 43,789 votes to emerge victorious, defeating Mr. Halm, who secured 35,147 votes.
However, the NDC candidate and his legal team argue that the results cannot stand due to alleged “irregularities and inconsistencies contained in FORM 8A (Regulation 32 (7) and 39(2) Statement of Polls for the Office of Member of Parliament (Pink Sheet) for Ninety-eight (98) polling stations out of a total of Two hundred and eighty-eight (288) polling stations in the Trobu Constituency.”
Represented by his lawyer, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, Mr. Halm is seeking the court’s intervention to nullify the results on the basis that the alleged irregularities violate Ghana’s electoral laws and regulations.
“Parliamentary election held in the Trobu Constituency on 7th December 2024 was not conducted in compliance with Regulations 39 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127) and the principles laid down by Regulations 39 and that the said non-compliance affected the results of the elections.”
The legal team also highlighted alleged discrepancies between the official results recorded on the pink sheets and the actual votes counted at the polling stations, which they claim are substantial enough to render the results unreliable.
They argue that the EC’s failure to address these irregularities before declaring Gloria Owusu the winner constitutes a breach of its constitutional mandate to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.
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