A viral video circulating on social media has captured an incident from the recently concluded Assin North by-election, where an Electoral Commission official is allegedly seen accepting a bribe from a political party to influence the election results.
The video depicts a perplexed electoral official seated alongside a fellow colleague, while they are being interrogated by an individual behind the camera and a police officer. In the background, the police officer can be heard instructing the official to hand over the alleged bribe money, saying, "Bring it." Simultaneously, the person behind the camera is heard urging the official to give the money to the police officer, stating, "You give the money to him, give it to him."
As the situation unfolds, the electoral official reaches into his pocket, retrieves a stack of banknotes, and hands it over to the police officer. The unidentified commentator remarks, "Sit down," after the money has been handed over to the police.
The video, shared on Twitter by GhanaWeb TV, accompanied by the caption "Things are happening in the Assin North by-election. An Electoral Commission Presiding officer who was bribed has been caught by the Police," has generated significant attention and concern among social media users.
A user by the name of Kwaku Wisdom commented “The formula is simple, keep the voters poor, induce them with peanuts to keep us in power to continually keep them poor...and the circle never ends until the voter becomes wise.”
Watch the video below:
Things are happening in the Assin North by-election.
— GhanaWeb (@TheGhanaWeb) June 27, 2023
An Electoral Commission Presiding officer who was bribed has been caught by the Police. pic.twitter.com/UwOdY03boI
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission of Ghana officially declared James Gyakye Quayson as the Member of Parliament-elect for the Assin North constituency following the conclusion of the by-election. Quayson, who contested on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), emerged victorious with a significant margin.
According to the Electoral Commission's announcement, James Gyakye Quayson garnered a total of 17,245 votes, representing 57.56% of the total votes cast. His closest contender, Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), received 12,630 votes, accounting for 42.15% of the votes. Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party Ghana (LPG) secured 87 votes, which represented 0.29% of the overall tally.
The by-election in Assin North was held to fill the parliamentary seat left vacant following a legal battle that questioned Quayson's eligibility to hold office due to dual citizenship concerns.
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