Near blows at Navro-Pungu Central over voting irregularities

There was near exchange of blow between elections officials and voters at the Pungu central polling station in the Kasena-Nankana Municipalilty after voters accused the commission of "tempering with the voters' register and deliberately delaying the voting process".

Voters who had crowded at the polling centre earlier in the morning to cast their ballots were challenged with irregularities in the register such as the omission of names and pictures even after election officials brought out several other registers.

The twist in events, which did not go down well with the people looking at how much time they had wasted in the queues, generated a heated argument between contestants, voters and the Municipal Electoral Commission (EC) officials, leading to a scuffle which left two elderly women with bruises to the knees and elbows.

One of the Aspirants, John Bamonamo Abalore, who witnessed the development, said the EC failed to do due diligence before the commencement of the polls.

According to him, people who were turned away due to the absence of names in the voters' register successfully passed the verification process, indicating that the register had been tempered with by some individuals.

He said the delayance would negatively impact the election results since people who could not wait any longer left the polling station without exercising their franchise.

He expressed his dissatisfaction with the whole process, with a call on the EC to address some of such challenge to ensure a smooth Presidential and Parliamentary election in 2020.