Democracy Hub sues NDC, EC, AG; wants Ayawaso East by-election halted

A civil society group, Democracy Hub, has gone to the High Court to try to halt the Ayawaso East by-election scheduled for 3 March 2026, arguing that the process that produced the NDC’s candidate was allegedly corrupted by vote buying.

The suit targets three parties: the NDC as first defendant, the Electoral Commission (EC) as second defendant, and the Attorney-General as third defendant.

Democracy Hub’s case is built around the NDC parliamentary primary held on 7 February 2026. It says the contest was marked by inducement, monetisation and widespread vote buying, and therefore failed the standard required for internal party elections under Article 55(5) of the Constitution and Section 9 of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574).

The group says the EC should not rely on the outcome of that primary to accept a parliamentary candidate.

Rather than focusing only on the by-election date, Democracy Hub is asking for court orders that would effectively freeze the EC’s next steps on the NDC nomination. Among the reliefs are requests for the court to:

set aside the EC’s recognition of Baba Jamal as the NDC candidate, and

issue an order compelling the EC to refuse to accept or act on his nomination until the NDC holds a fresh primary conducted in line with democratic rules.

Democracy Hub also argues that the party’s decision to move forward without addressing the alleged misconduct makes its actions legally and constitutionally questionable.

The controversy centres on Baba Jamal, who has been accused of vote buying during the primary, allegations he has repeatedly denied.

The NDC has said it investigated the complaints through a three-member committee, and that the report guided its decision to uphold the results, pointing to legal requirements, constitutional considerations and EC nomination deadlines.