Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan
The names of about 20,000 voters found to have engaged in multiple registrations during the biometric voter’s registration have been expunged from the national voters register, which will be used for the December 7 general election.
The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told the Daily Graphic in Accra Tuesday that the names of the people had been cleared from the voters roll.
“It is estimated that close to 20,000 people were involved in that fraudulent act,” he said.
A Ghana News Agency (GNA) report on Monday quoted the EC’s Deputy Chairman (Operations), Mr Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, as saying, “To avoid any ambiguity on Election Day, a special list has been compiled for those who engaged in multiple registrations to serve as evidence of their fraudulent electoral act which is criminal.”
Meanwhile, the EC has fixed December 4 for special voting by those who will be on duty on Election Day, Friday, December 7.
Constitutional Instrument (CI) 75 (21) stipulates: “A voter may apply to the returning officer of the constituency in which the voter is registered to be entered as a special voter if, as a result of election duties, the voter will not be able to be present at the polling station where the voter is registered on the day of election.
“An application for special voting shall be made not later than 42 days before the polling day in the constituency of the applicant, except in the case of an applicant who is a returning officer.”
Those expected to cast the early vote include members of the Ghana-Armed Forces, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana National Fire Service, EC officials and staff of essential services.
Special polling stations have been mapped out by the EC for the exercise and voting starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.
According to the GNA report, Mr Safo Kantanka was speaking at a public dialogue dubbed: “EC dialogue with parliamentary candidates” organised by the commission, in collaboration with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), for candidates in the Ablekuma, Ayawaso and Okaikoi sub-metros.
CI 75 mandates the returning officer to ensure that the ballot boxes are sealed with the seals of the EC, as well as candidates who wish to add their seals.
The boxes will be transported to safe places for storage and opened only after the main election on Friday, December 7.
The returning officer is also mandated to arrange for the ballot boxes to be opened at the time of the counting of votes cast on polling day and the ballot papers “shall be counted in the same manner as those contained in the l ballot boxes used on the polling day”.
Seven political parties and an independent candidate are contesting Presidency, while about 1,331 parliamentary candidates are contesting the 275 seats in Parliament.
The presidential candidates for the political parties and the order in which they will appear on the ballot paper are: President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).
The rest are Mr Hassan Ayariga, the People’s National Convention (PNC); Mr Akwasi Addai (Odike), the United Front Party c (UFP); Dr Henry Lartey, the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), and the independent candidate, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah.
Since 1992, Ghana has had uninterrupted democratic practice, conducting five globally acclaimed successful elections.