NPP rigged elections even in opposition - Asiam

The National women's organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ms Frances Asiam, has stated that the victory of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Wulensi by-election is a pirate and hollow victory. According to her the NPP won the election through vote-buying and rigging machinery.

"The Wulensi by-election has actually unearthed the electoral malpractices that have been the phenomenon perpetuated by the NPP administration over the years even when they were in opposition. Now that they are in power, the unheard of vote-rigging is blatantly displayed through the Wulensi by-election", she said.

Ms. Asiam who made the claim to the Chronicle in an interview said the "scientific method" of vote-rigging by the NPP over the years has been torn apart as the NDC is now vigilant on their activities.

She described the eve-of-election appointment of the deputy Northern regional minister and the mid-night electrification project at Wulensi as uncalled for, adding that even though it was a political gimmick, the appointment should not be done in the eve of the election. Ms. Asiam accused the NPP of buying votes from the electorate at the cost of ?60,000 per voter and transporting many youth from Accra to intimidate the NDC electorate.

"The process of vote buying from the electorate at the cost of?60,000 and replacing their pictures with different pictures is a total bastardization of the whole democratic process in the country. It gain increases the work load on the EC as people go and register somewhere again just to get into the mainstream", she stated.

She added that in spite of the trick played by the NPP through the last minute appointment, mid-night electrification projects intimidating of electorates, NPP cannot in any away cow down the NDC.

The vocal organizer stated that the culture of impersonation and voter-inducement perpetuated by the NPP should be stopped, stressing that if the NPP wants to perpetuate the culture of aggression, the NDC will meet them boot for boot which would be chaotic.

According to her if the NPP failed to accept the norms of electioneering, they will be forced to accept it to allow free and fair elections in the country, revealing that as the NDC has observed the tricks of the NPP, they will also look into their internal election machinery to move quickly to the other fields to avoid further losses to the NPP.

Continuing, she accused the NPP of inculcating a high level of indiscipline in the youth by giving them money to go and misbehave, which was contrary to the curbing of indiscipline trumpeted by the vice president.

When the glib woman was asked whether she conceded defeat and was satisfied with the results, this is what she said "we did not concede defeat because we waited patiently until the last box of the balloting papers were brought, counted and the results were mentioned.

When you concede defeat it means before the elections you give up. But as for the results, we were not satisfied because from the very beginning, the NPP had gone for vote buying and the day of the election imported a lot of people from Accra not only to intimidate but also to impersonate", she intoned.

Debunking the allegations that vote buying was perpetuated by her party, she said, "we did not rig any election. We were a party that came out of government so that democracy will be maintained.