On Monday, December 2, the extraordinary election in the Greater Accra Region’s Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency proceeded without incident until Lydia Alhassan, the incumbent MP for the New Patriotic Party, began giving out food packets to electors waiting in line.
The food bags were also given to some Electoral Commission officials and security guards overseeing the operation.
Lydia Alhassan spearheaded the sharing, which infuriated party executives and actor John Dumelo, the opposition National Democratic Congress’ parliamentary candidate for the constituency.
Even though it is prohibited to use any kind of inducement in Ghanaian elections, these kinds of instances typically happen during both national and internal party elections.
John Dumelo denounced the sharing of food in an interview with Kwaku Asante of Joy News.
“Why are you sharing food with people in the queue? Why are you doing that? Does it mean we cannot share food too? We can also share the same, but let’s respect the rules of the Electoral Commission. Don’t share anything with people in the queue who have not voted yet. And you’re sharing food and we don’t even know what’s in the thing, and you’re sharing to people who have not voted yet. What kind of stupidity is this” he quizzed.
Why? Do they think we can’t do it? We can do the same and even worse. They shouldn’t even try us” he warned.
The two parliamentary candidates discussed their chances of winning the election with Joy News before to the incident.
The NPP and NDC in the Ayawaso Central Constituency expressly enjoyed breakfast with Electoral Commission officials overseeing the operation, according to Prince Kwame Kudogah of Joy News.
In 14 of the 16 areas, hundreds of security guards, emergency service workers, and representatives of the Electoral Commission are participating in the special voting process.
Due to a vote paper error that forced the Electoral Commission to order a recall and reprint ballots for the two regions, Eastern and Western, the other two regions will have their special voting on Thursday, December 5.
Aside from a few instances of food sharing and missing names, the process has gone well overall with a large turnout.
