John Kofi Halm, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Trobu constituency, 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 election.
The lawsuit names the Electoral Commission (EC) Headquarters, the EC Trobu District Office, and the Clerk of Parliament as respondents.
Halm alleges irregularities during the electoral process that he claims undermined its integrity. Gloria Owusu was declared the winner with 43,789 votes, while Halm secured 35,147 votes.
The case seeks to contest the validity of the results, with Halm urging the court to investigate and potentially nullify the outcome.
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.
