Two presidential hopefuls of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are alleging that seals on bags containing ballot papers for the party’s presidential primaries have been tampered with.

This claim by the campaign teams of Alban Bagbin and Prof Joshua Alabi comes barely 24 hours to the presidential primaries to be held in constituencies across the country on Saturday.

Thousands of NDC members are expected to cast their ballot to choose from among the seven individuals who intend to lead the party in 2020.

But the Bagbin and Prof Alabi camps are suspecting foul play even before polls open.

The candidates allege this bag and many others have been tampered with

Mr Bagbin in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story, expressed disappointment at the turn of events, saying all promises made by the leadership of the party has yet to be kept.

According to him, “the seals that were placed on the ballot bags – seals of the contestants – were broken before they arrived at the region. All the seals were broken. This means they have been tampered with and our representatives have raised issues with that.”

The Nadowli-Kaleo MP said he will participate in the elections through to the end but “If the process is so compromised that it will tend to invalidate the elections results, definitely, we will resort to the court for action.”

The spokesperson for Prof Alabi’s campaign team Richard Quashigah corroborates the Deputy Speaker’s account.

This, under normal circumstances, what the bags should look like 

He said his team members have also found broken seals on the bags and “we have pictures to that effect and we can make them available.

“It is clear that the process is being tampered with and it is not creating an even playing field for the seven candidates,” he added.

Mr Quashigah said the team has also been informed that the seals on the bags sent to the Eastern, Central and Ashanti regions were all broken before they arrived at their destination.

He also claims that when the worrying development was brought to the attention of the Regional Election Directors ignored the protests by his team members.

“They proceeded to repackage the ballot papers in brown envelopes for onward distribution to the various constituencies for tomorrow’s polls.

“It is abundantly clear that the elections tomorrow will not be free and fair,” he added.

Like Mr Bagbin, he says his candidate will go through the process and only take necessary actions only when they are convinced that the results are not what they should be.

Both candidates also allege that more ballot papers than expected, have been printed.

According to them, although the party leadership said the excess ballot papers will be shredded, they have not. They have all been dispatched to the various constituencies.