Ho West NDC Secretary election faces petition over alleged irregularities

Aspirant for the position of Ho West Constituency Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Carlos Femi Yao Ganyo, has formally petitioned the party's National Directorate of Elections and IT over alleged electoral irregularities in the constituency election held on October 24, 2026.

The petition, dated October 25, 2026, and addressed to the National Director of Elections and IT through the Volta Regional and Ho West Constituency Directors of Elections, calls for an independent investigation into the conduct of the election.

According to Mr. Ganyo, the petition follows an earlier handwritten complaint and seeks to draw attention to what he describes as serious concerns affecting the integrity, transparency and fairness of the process.

On the issue of over-voting, the petitioner stated that while total voter turnout per EC records was 1,295, a total of 1,299 ballot papers were found in the ballot box, representing an excess of four ballots.

He is therefore requesting a thorough reconciliation of accredited voters, ballot papers issued, used, unused and those recovered from the ballot box.

The petition also flagged 51 ballot papers which were observed during sorting and counting to bear unusual identical distinctive marks across the face of the second candidate, Mr. Sedzro Wisdom.

Mr. Ganyo is asking that the 51 ballots be independently examined to establish the nature of the markings and whether they complied with prescribed voting procedures.

On proxy voting, he alleged that two delegates - the Branch Chairman of L.A. Primary School, Tave, and a member of L.A. JHS, New Dzorkpe, who were reportedly away for security services training - had votes cast on their behalf.

He argued that this practice contravenes Section E, Clause 13.0 of the NDC Electoral Guidelines which expressly prohibits proxy voting in constituency elections.

Another major concern raised was alleged financial inducement, as Mr. Ganyo claimed that while voting was ongoing, an announcement was made via the public address system by one Mr. Selorm Folikumah on behalf of Hon. Prince Awudu Sedzro, directing representatives from all eight zones to report for GH¢10,000 per zone, totaling GH¢80,000.

The petitioner alleged that Hon. Prince Awudu Sedzro, a Presidential Staffer and brother of his opponent, facilitated the announcement, adding that his branch received GH¢320 as its share, which he says is available as evidence.

In his reliefs, Mr. Ganyo is praying the National Elections Directorate to institute an independent investigation, preserve all electoral materials, investigate the alleged proxy voting and financial inducement, conduct a ballot reconciliation, and review the outcome of the election including the possibility of a fresh election if justified.

He emphasized that the petition was submitted in good faith not to undermine party unity, but to uphold the principles of free, fair, credible and transparent internal elections and to protect confidence in the party's internal democratic processes.