Voting at the Bodomase Methodist Polling Station in the Kumawu Constituency experienced a 30-minute interruption due to a clash between supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to our correspondent Ibrahim Abubakar, the altercation occurred when NDC supporters demanded the removal of a ballot from the box during the ongoing by-elections.
This request was prompted by a complaint from an elderly woman who claimed that an Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) official assisting her had mistakenly thumb-printed for the NPP instead of the NDC as requested.
To defuse the situation, additional police personnel were deployed to restore calm, as tensions ran high. The EC official, unable to convince the crowd of her actions, was escorted to safety.
Some presiding officers of the EC are allegedly forcing some old folks of Kumawu to vote for the NPP candidates against their wishes when assisting them. This is a video of a lady complaining to Dr Serebuo and some NDC executives of her grandmother being a victim. pic.twitter.com/CRiuo5zio5
— MrOpare (@mista_opare) May 23, 2023
Later on, Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, the General Secretary of the NDC, arrived at the polling station and cautioned the EC’s Presiding Officer to ensure that such incidents did not recur.
“What we have to do is simply to put our clear instruction that we do not want any such thing from happening anymore [and] we’ve told our agents to definitely be vigilant.”