Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has urged Ghanaians to disregard the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) claims of boycotting the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Gbande accused the NPP of being dishonest, alleging that party operatives are actively campaigning at night in the constituency, despite public pronouncements of a boycott.

“The NPP is part of the election but is lying to Ghanaians about boycotting. They are disingenuous and go to campaign at night,” he asserted.

Mr Gbande challenged the NPP to officially communicate its decision to withdraw from the election to the Electoral Commission (EC).

“The NPP should be bold enough to write to the Electoral Commission and officially inform them that they are withdrawing so their candidate’s name can be taken off the ballot paper,” he stated.

He suggested the boycott claims stem from internal party assessments that project an imminent defeat in what was once an NPP stronghold.

“After an assessment, they have realised their candidate will lose and wish to change her but can’t. They know she did nothing as an ambassador, and even as a former MP, she has no track record. That’s why she lost the primaries in 2020.”

“Ablekuma North was one of the constituencies the NDC won, but the NPP wanted to use police intimidation to snatch it from us. That won’t work,” Mr Gbande declared.

The Electoral Commission has scheduled a rerun in 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North constituency after disruptions during the December 2024 parliamentary elections prevented full collation of results.

The NPP has described the rerun as illegal and in contempt of court and declared it would not take part.

However, an injunction application filed at the Accra High Court to halt the EC’s decision was dismissed on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. The party is yet to publicly rescind its boycott stance.