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The Tamale High Court has annulled the results of the 2024 parliamentary election in the Kpandai constituency and ordered a rerun to be conducted within 30 days.
The ruling, delivered on Monday, November 24, by His Lordship Emmanuel Brew Plange, follows a petition filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate, Daniel Nsala Wakpal.
Wakpal challenged the declaration of New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Matthew Nyindam, as Member of Parliament, alleging widespread irregularities during voting and collation.
Irregularities in 41 Polling Stations
The petition highlighted inconsistencies in Form 8A, the official Statement of Polls (Pink Sheet), across 41 out of the 152 polling stations in the constituency.
Wakpal argued that these infractions breached Regulations 39 and 43 of the Public Elections Regulations (C.I. 127), significantly affecting the integrity of the results.
He contended that the collation process was unlawful, citing an alleged secret relocation of the collation centre by the Electoral Commission’s district officer, without notifying candidates and their agents.
According to him, this deprived the NDC candidate of his legal right to request recounts or challenge disputed results.
Court Upholds Petition
Justice Plange upheld the petition in its entirety, ruling that the violations identified materially compromised the results.
The court subsequently ordered the Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh parliamentary election to restore credibility.
In the 2024 election, the NPP’s Nyindam polled 27,947 votes (53.47%), while the NDC’s Wakpal had 24,213 votes (46.33%), a margin of 3,734 votes.
Legal Battle Continues
Reacting to the judgment, counsel for Nyindam, Sylvester Esang, expressed disappointment and announced that a motion for stay of execution and an appeal had already been filed.
“We anticipated this judgment because of the things we heard prior. We respect the decision of the court, but we disagree and are totally dissatisfied,” he stated.
NDC Welcomes Ruling
On the NDC side, lawyers and party officials celebrated the judgment as a victory for electoral transparency.
Speaking to the media, lead counsel for Wakpal said the case was “very simple,” insisting that the EC official acted unlawfully by relocating the collation centre without notice.
“You don’t redesignate a collation centre without notifying candidates. This denied the petitioner his rights under CI 127,” he stressed.
Deputy Director of Elections for the NDC, Rashid “Computer” Tanko, described the ruling as proof of electoral manipulation by “crooked electoral officers”.
“They didn’t do the collation. They went to Tamale, cooked some results, and declared Nyindam MP,” he alleged.
He added that the NDC would win the rerun convincingly, warning the NPP to “stay away if they value their dignity.”
By Philip Bright Abutiate