NDC parliamentary candidate for Tema Central, Ebi Bright, has filed a petition at the High Court to challenge Charles Forson’s election as the Member of Parliament for the constituency.
In her petition, Bright argues that the results which led to Forson’s declaration as the winner do not accurately reflect the true outcome of the election. She claims that irregularities were present in the results from three specific polling stations.
Bright further contends that the original pink sheets from these three polling stations, which were kept by the Electoral Commission, included the names and signatures of the presiding officers, but the copies provided to the NDC lacked these key details.
Additionally, she asserts that the votes recorded for the candidates on the original pink sheets do not match the total number of valid votes or overall votes tallied.
As a result, Bright is seeking for the court to invalidate the results from these three stations and reverse Forson’s declaration as the MP. She also wants the court to refer to earlier results, which excluded the disputed stations, where she was declared the winner. Alternatively, she is requesting that the court orders a re-run at the three polling stations.
In a related case, on January 4, 2025, an Accra High Court instructed the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete the collation of results from two remaining polling stations in the Tema Central constituency. This ruling followed mandamus applications filed by NPP candidates, urging the EC to fulfill its legal responsibilities.
Justice Forson Agyapong, who presided over the case, cited breaches of legal obligations and natural justice as grounds for the application. He emphasized that the EC is required to perform its duties fairly and in line with the law. In the case of Tema Central, the court found that the EC had unlawfully excluded results from two polling stations, clarifying that only the declaration by the returning officer is legally binding. The EC was thus instructed to complete the collation at its Accra regional office.
Following the court’s order, Charles Forson of the NPP was officially declared the winner of the parliamentary race, securing 18,870 votes to narrowly beat Ebi Bright, who received 18,815 votes. Independent candidate Frederick Aniagyei received 209 votes. The total valid votes cast stood at 37,894, with 144 rejected ballots, bringing the overall total votes to 38,038.