The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has condemned the incidents of vote-buying and photographing of ballots recorded in the just ended special voting exercise.
It has expressed concerns over the violations of the electoral rules with security personnel stationed at such polling centres and the electoral officers looking on without taking any action to stop them.
This comes as a result of some recorded incidents at some polling stations during the special voting exercise on Monday, December 02, 2024, which violates the code of conduct at polling centres.
The exercise covered security personnel, media practitioners and other persons who by virtue of their roles on the election day cannot cast their ballots.
During the voting, some persons were captured on camera distributing food and water to voters who were in a queue, as well as incidents of people capturing their thumb-printed ballots on camera.
One of such incidents was when the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, was captured on camera distributing water and food with her aides to voters in a queue at the Legon polling station.
Although there is video evidence of her engaging in the act, she denied knowledge of the incident.
In its report after the polls, CODEO said the recorded incidents undermines the principles of democracy and has called on the Ghana Police Service to arrest all persons involved in such malpractices and prosecute them where necessary.
“CODEO is alarmed by the observed incidents of vote-buying and the photographing of cast ballots. It is concerning that some presiding officers and security officers did nothing to stop the violations.
“The Coalition is calling on the Ghana Police Service to take swift action against all such cases, including those reported in the media,” portions of the Coalition’s statement indicated.
It called on the respective stakeholders to issue directives on how election officials and security officers should conduct themselves when such developments come up on Saturday, December 07, when the general election takes place.
“As a matter of urgency, the EC and the National Election Security Task Force must issue strict directives to presiding officers and security offices on what actions to take when they witness election offences.
“This will help forestall similar occurrences during the December 7 polls. CODEO urges the Ghana Police Service to update the public on any such actions. CODEO acknowledges the interest taken by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in these matters,” it added.
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