The Coalition of Democratic Election Observers (CODEO) has identified the abuse of incumbency as one of the issues likely to affect the credibility of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections slated for December 7.

This observation was highlighted in CODEO’s second pre-election environment report, made public on November 18.

The report reflects findings from field observers across the country, monitoring campaign activities and electoral processes.

“Observers noted instances of potential abuse of incumbency by incumbent candidates or appointees of the government,” the report stated. It further revealed that about 11% of observer reports flagged the use of public vehicles for campaigning on behalf of incumbent candidates.

One notable instance was recorded in the Tatale-Sanguli constituency in the Northern Region.

The report detailed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate’s flyers were used to brand machinery under the government-led District Road Improvement Program (DRIP).

According to the report, “The campaign flyers of the Tatale-Sanguli Member of Parliament and parliamentary candidate for the constituency were seen on the DRIP Programme equipment (bulldozer), which was being used to maintain and expand roads in the Sagban community.”

CODEO expressed concern about the implications of such actions on the fairness of the electoral process.

CODEO says its findings are based on weekly observation reports filed by 97 CODEO Long-Term Observers (LTOs) from 97 constituencies across all regions of the country.

A total of 193 weekly reports filed by these observers during the reporting period were analysed for this report.