SECURITY THREATS OF POLITICAL-PARTY VIGILANTISM AT CONSTITUENCY LEVEL IN GHANA

In Ghana, electoral democracy appears to threaten the peace, security and stability of the country. Localised violence has accompanied every election, at least under the Fourth Republic. Political violence usually occurs in the electoral cycle and is characterized by threats, intimidation, physical assault, vandalization of electoral materials, as well as the use of hate speeches and incendiary language. This has sparked intense debate regarding the security threats these vigilante groups pose to the country. In fact, Bob-Milliar (2014) argues that, the country have recorded several incidents of these groups exceeding their legal limits of political participation, in acts of "taking the law into their own hands". For instance, in April 2017, over 200 members of the New Patriotic Party's vigilante group known as "invincible forces" attacked the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, physically assaulted and chased him out of his office, with the explanation that, he was `not part of the struggle' to win power from the National Democratic Congress during the previous general elections (Myjoyonline.com 2017).