Former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flag bearer, John Dramani Mahama, has warned the Electoral Commission (EC) against plots to rig the impending 2024 elections for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In a Facebook post on Monday, Mahama accused the EC of colluding with the NPP to manipulate the outcome of the upcoming 2024 elections and called for neutrality from the Commission leadership.
The former President expressed these concerns following the EC’s decision to bar political party agents from observing the ongoing voter transfer exercise.
“The Electoral Commission’s decision not to allow agents of political parties to observe the ongoing voter transfer exercise points to only one reason—the EC’s avowed determination to aid the ruling NPP in stealing the outcome of the 2024 elections,” Mahama wrote. “But as I have continued to repeat, and did the past weekend in Tongo, this collusion between the EC and the NPP will not work. They will fail!”
Mahama stressed the abrupt reversal of an earlier decision made at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, which had allowed party agents to be present at district offices during the transfer exercise.
“I am not surprised that the NPP and the EC quickly reversed a collective decision taken at an IPAC meeting last week to have political party agents present at the district offices for the transfer exercise,” he stated.
The NDC leader accused the NPP of attempting to use gerrymandering tactics to influence parliamentary elections during the voter transfer period, aiming to offset NDC gains in key constituencies.
“The NPP knows and internally admits that it will lose the 2024 presidential elections. We also know that, as a last resort, it seeks to deploy gerrymandering during this voter transfer period to improve its chances in the parliamentary elections in the erroneous belief that it may rely on that to affect its presidential votes,” Mahama continued. “Again, they will fail because that strategy will not work.”
The former President claimed to have evidence of targeted voter transfers in stronghold regions of the NPP, particularly in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions, as well as selected areas in Greater Accra.
“We have in our possession a long list of constituencies in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions and selected places in Greater Accra and other regions where the NPP is seeking to transfer thousands of voters from their strongholds to offset the NDC’s gains in constituencies we control,” he added.
He urged NDC members to remain vigilant and monitor the voter transfer process closely. He also challenged the EC to uphold its mandate and operate independently.