Alleged Vote Rigging By Opposition Kicks Up Storm

Allegations of vote rigging by the opposition during a bye-election in Accra last year have kicked up a storm in Ghana and put question marks about fairness on the political landscape.

It has also put more stress on the Electoral Commission (EC), which has been under intense pressure to organise a free and fair vote as the country enters the last lap of campaign before historic presidential and parliamentary elections on 7 December.

Alhaji Issaka Inusah, a former key member of the main opposition centre right party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), claimed at the weekend that the party rigged the bye-election in a constituency in Accra by outwitting the electoral commission.

Their modus operandi was to recruit activists who were given similar dresses, infiltrate the Electoral Officers and hand members of the gang more than one ballot paper.

The bye-election at Ablekuma Central in Accra was crucial for the opposition, which held the seat before, as a defeat would mean the ruling National Democratic Party gaining 134 seats in parliament and therefore two-thirds majority to amend the constitution with ease.

Although the NPP has always said it was cheated at the polls in 1992 and 1996, the claim of Inusah, who is now a key member of the NDC, has triggered calls for his arrest.

The EC has described the allegations as "incredible" saying "voting procedure makes it highly impossible for anyone to be given double or multiple ballot papers."

But Inusah says the EC does not know what happens on the ground.

"This shows that the commissioner really does not know what happens at the polling stations...," he contends.

He said he was opposed to the "double standards" of the NPP, which is always pointing fingers at the NDC while, in fact, "they (NPP) are the ones doing the wrong things under the cover of darkness."

The EC has worked tirelessly to have a smooth vote but has been hampered by voters' roll, which, the commissioner Kwadwo Afari-Gyan admits is bloated by 1.5 million voters.

He said that whereas about one million new names were added to the register during a revision this year, only 133,000 names have been removed.

This puts the total number of voters at 10.7 million out of a national population of 18.4 million.

Afari-Gyan says the voter population being 58.14 percent of the national population makes the register too huge and cause for concern.

The December 7 vote will be the first time in the country's history that one leader will hand power to another leader, even if he is from the same party.

Ghana uses a transparent ballot box and all votes are counted at the polling stations to avoid stuffing of ballot boxes and rigging.

The political parties are given copies of the electoral register for them to verify the names of voters. They also have two agents at every polling station and they sign the result slip before they are sent to the constituency centres for the votes to be declared.

Despite these seemingly tight measures, Inusah says the system can still be infiltrated. And that is a matter of concern to the Electoral Commission and the general public.