Assin North by-election: Watch how police caught EC official with alleged bribe money

In a widely shared video from the recently ended Assin North by-election, an official of the Electoral Commission is purportedly shown receiving a payment from a political party in order to sway the outcome of the poll.

A confused electoral official and a fellow official are shown in the video sitting together while they are being questioned by a person behind the camera and a police officer. The police officer can be heard telling the official to hand over the alleged bribe money in the background, adding, “Bring it.” As the official is being urged to deliver the money to the police officer, a voice from behind the camera can be heard saying, “You give the money to him, give it to him.”

The election official grabs a wad of bills out of his pocket and offers them to the police officer as the scenario develops. “Sit down,” the unnamed commentator says after delivering the cash to the police.

Things are happening in the Assin North by-election, according to the footage GhanaWeb TV posted on Twitter. The news that “An Electoral Commission Presiding officer who was bribed has been caught by the Police,” has drawn a lot of interest and alarm from social media users.

“The formula is simple, keep the voters poor, induce them with peanuts to keep us in power to continually keep them poor,” commented a user by the name of Kwaku Wisdom.unless the voter develops wisdom, the cycle will continue.

View the video here:

Things are happening in the Assin North by-election.

An Electoral Commission Presiding officer who was bribed has been caught by the Police. pic.twitter.com/UwOdY03boI

— GhanaWeb (@TheGhanaWeb) June 27, 2023

After the by-election was completed, James Gyakye Quayson was formally recognized by the Ghanaian Electoral Commission as the district’s new member of parliament. Quayson, who ran for office on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ticket, won by a sizable margin.

According to the announcement made by the Electoral Commission, James Gyakye Quayson received a total of 17,245 votes, or 57.56% of the total votes cast. Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who was his closest rival, received 12,630 votes, or 42.15 percent of the vote. 87 votes, or 0.29% of the total, went to Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).

In Assin North, a by-election was held to fill the parliamentary seat that became vacant after a legal dispute regarding Quayson’s eligibility to occupy office due to dual citizenship issues.

Source: Mynewsghana.com