Assin North by-election: CODEO condemns vote-buying incidents

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers CODEO has strongly condemned the incidence of vote-buying in the Assin North by-election held on Tuesday.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused each other of vote-buying in the just-ended by-election.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson alleged that the NPP shared GH¢200 and GH¢300 to some voters to influence them to vote for their candidate.

He denied claims that he was involved in distributing money and accused the NPP of attempting to divert attention from their own actions.

The National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Kofi Arhin in an interview said such acts ought to be nipped in the bud to safeguard the country’s democracy.

“I heard a lot of people talking about money exchanging hands, being given to voters and that’s a very bad sign. It’s been happening and people have been talking about it and if we are not careful this will spoil the democracy that we are building.”

“How can you give money to a voter to cast a ballot for you? It is surely a bad sign, so I think both politicians and voters need to look at this and find solutions to it because it is not good for our democracy,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the former General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, has downplayed vote-buying accusations levelled against his party by the opposition NDC in the Assin North by-election.

Responding to this in an interview with journalists in Assin North, Boadu slammed the NDC for engaging in the act and then turning around to accuse NPP members of vote-buying.

He described the NDC’s claims as petty and insisted that there was nothing wrong with facilitating the transportation of some of the disadvantaged voters.

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