Isaac Ashai Odamtten, the NDC incumbent MP for Tema East, has expressed concerned about the level of electoral infractions witnessed during the ongoing voting exercise in the constituency.
He wants the security detail and EC to up their game. He made the observation and call after casting his vote at the manhean polyclinic.
The MP won the seat in what is considered an NPP stronghold from Daniel Titus Glover in the 2020 election with over 50% of total votes cast.
He is seeking re-election against the NPPs Yohane Amarh Ashitey, who is the current MCE of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.
Touring some polling centres within the constituency, the law maker bemoaned the disenfranchising of electorate by EC officials and offering of more ballot papers to voters by EC officials at some polling centres.
“… in the first place, is the EC official supposed to engage in such blatant criminality? No, you don’t expect people to do the wrong thing…this particular incident occurred at Camp Prescott. Again, in the sea light electoral area at the Naval Base polling station,” he lamented.
Aside these concerns, the centres are recording low voter turnout which is also a cause for concern for him. He entreated all electorate to vote in peace, expressing confidence in winning the seat again.
” People had been turned away because they didn’t show up with their voter ID card, and I think that was unfortunate. I had to intervene for the first person to identify the name in the register to be able to vote. The second person, having gone through two registers, was told he cannot vote. … then I go into the register, get closer to them, and the name was there.
And so if in the strongholds of NDC, polling officials or electoral officials will turn people away with a flimsy excuse because they are not holding the ID card, that is also something that undermines our electoral process,” he bemoaned.
