A violent confrontation among members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) marred the constituency elections in the Bantama constituency in the Ashanti Region last Saturday, July 11, 2026.
The confusion broke out after some party members stormed the venue of the election at the Kumasi Cultural Centre to disrupt the process, claiming the exercise was not supposed to take place because it had been injuncted by some aggrieved party members.
Information gathered indicated that the angry party members, after disrupting the voting process, also destroyed electoral materials, including ballot papers, forcing the exercise to be halted. The heavily built men managed to destroy electoral materials belonging to the Electoral Commission and also injured a party member in the process, who was immediately taken to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to receive medical attention.
Personnel of the Ghana Police Service deployed to oversee the peaceful conduct of the election managed to arrest three of the men who disrupted the voting process and whisked them away in a waiting police vehicle.
Eyewitness
An eyewitness and a delegate, Baba Abdulai, said they were in a queue to vote when the heavily built men besieged the venue and destroyed the electoral materials. He said EC officials were not present to supervise the elections due to the injunction, but rather some party officials assumed the role of the EC, saying "it was at that moment that the men surfaced to destroy the materials."
Waiting for report
Speaking on the matter in an interview monitored by the Daily Graphic, the Director of Elections of the NPP, Evans Nimako, said the party was awaiting a detailed report from the police service on what actually transpired.
On the way forward, he indicated that they would wait for a comprehensive report from the national representative assigned to oversee the elections on the actual developments to inform the party's next line of action.
Earlier issues
Ahead of the constituency elections, there were counter-accusations among some of the executives over allegations that some names had been allegedly removed from the album that would be used for the elections. The situation resulted in uneasy calm among members of the party ahead of the elections, which threatened their peaceful conduct.
Interim injunction
A Kumasi High Court issued an interim injunction halting the Bantama Constituency executive election. The plaintiffs who secured the injunction are Marcus James Kwadwo Osei, Paul Asare, and Enoch Ofori-Amanfo, with the NPP, Prince Karikari, regional representative to the constituency election committee, and Fiifi Mensah, the constituency chairman.
The court, in its order, said: "The application has merits and same is hereby granted. The respondents are hereby restrained together with their agents, assigns, privies from conducting, proceeding with or completing the constituency executive elections within the constituency."
It further said: "This order is valid for ten days."
