Voting was temporarily suspended at the Bodomase Methodist Polling Station in the Kumawu Constituency after supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) clashed over a ballot paper.
Our correspondent, Ibrahim Abubakar, reported that the dispute started when an elderly woman claimed that the Electoral Commission (EC) official who assisted her to vote did not follow her request to vote for the NDC but rather voted for the NPP.
The NDC supporters demanded that the ballot paper be removed from the box in the ongoing by-elections in the Constituency, which triggered a heated argument with the NPP supporters.
The situation was brought under control by a police reinforcement team that was deployed to calm down tempers, our correspondent said.
The EC official could not explain her action to the crowd and was taken away to safety.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, who arrived at the station later on, cautioned the EC’s Presiding Officer to prevent any such incident from happening again.
“We have given our clear instruction that we do not want any such thing from happening anymore [and] we’ve told our agents to definitely be vigilant,” he said.
The by-election in Kumawu is being held to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) following the death of Mr. Philip Basoah, who was buried on Saturday.
Four candidates are contesting in the by-election, including Ernest Yaw Anim of the NPP, Akwasi Amankwaa of the NDC, and two independent candidates who share the same name, Kwaku Duah.
One of the independent candidates, Kwaku Duah, who contested against Mr. Basoah in the 2020 election, is seen as a threat to the NPP candidate as he polled over 11,000 votes as against 14,000 votes by Mr. Basoah in that election.
Kumawu has witnessed a massive improvement on its internal roads in the last few weeks.
