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The General Secretary of National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey has said the Ashanti Region has become the hub for vote stealing by politicians during elections in Ghana.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues, the vociferous politician said the region which is coincidentally the stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) records high voter turn out during elections because of the massive rigging that takes place during election day.
“If there is a place where most massive stealing of votes happen in this country is the Ashanti Region, that’s the stronghold of our opponent…,” he said in an interview monitored by Angelonline.com.gh.
According to him, the Ashanti Region always records massive turn out and high figures for the NPP not because the indigenes love the ruling party but because the NPP has mastered the art of stealing votes in that region.
The NPP has since 1992 been winning massively in the Ashanti Region. The party won 65.8% of valid votes cast in the region in the 1996 elections; 74.8% in 2000; 77% in 2004; 72.5% in 2008; 70.9% in 2012; 76.3% in 2016 and 72% in 2020 elections.
He cited the 2008 elections as an example claiming that the NPP falsified several figures from the Ashanti Region as part of attempts to win the elections.
“If there is a party that is desperate about rigging an election, it is the NPP…in 2008, in that critical moment when they were stealing the vote, do you know where that shenanigan was happening, it was coming from the Ashanti Region, from Kumasi, that is where they were changing results that had already been declared…so we know what is done in Ashanti…we know that that vote that is recorded there, a lot of them is stealing and vote padding…,” he said.
According to him, the NDC has put in place several processes to ensure that the vote stealing in the Ashanti Region does not occur in the 2024 elections.
“This election [2024 elections], you watch…they will try [to steal]. As for trying, we know they will but we are ready…,” he said.
