Ghana Opposition Alleges Rigging as Election Result Delayed

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Ghanaian opposition leader John Mahama accused the ruling party of using the military to alter the results of Monday’s election. The government denied the allegation.

Claims of election rigging are unusual in Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer and one of the continent’s most stable democracies. In the last vote in 2016, Mahama conceded defeat to President Nana Akufo-Addo before a final tally was announced. Ghana’s electoral commission said it’s delayed the release of official results to later on Wednesday as it sought to allay fears that “anything untoward is happening.”

An unofficial count by Accra-based broadcaster Joy FM on Tuesday showed Akufo-Addo ahead in the presidential race with 51.6% of the vote, compared with 47.1% for Mahama, with ballots from 83% of constituencies counted. Mahama said Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party used the army to change the results of the parliamentary vote in the party’s favor. He didn’t provide any evidence for the claim.

“You cannot use the military to overturn some of the results in constituencies that we have won,” Mahama said in remarks broadcast by Joy FM radio. “Some of what is happening is unacceptable and Nana Akufo-Addo continues to show credentials that are very undemocratic.”

A collation of results by Mahama’s National Democratic Congress shows the party has won 140 of parliament’s 275 seats, he said. This is a “majority and no attempt should be made to subvert that,” Mahama said.

Ghanaian Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said Mahama’s claim that his party has won a parliamentary majority is false and denied the NPP used the security forces to alter the outcome of the ballot.

“The military and security agencies are not involved in any exercise to overturn results,” he said by phone. “They are ensuring the security of the process.”

Eric Aggrey-Quashie, a military spokesman, declined to comment when reached by phone.

Source: Bloomberg Business News