The commission said it will also ensure the security and safety of all the ballot boxes used in the first special voting exercise on Thursday, December 1.

A Deputy Director of Communications at the Electoral Commission, Yussif Ayuba in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show said, “We have enough extra ballot boxes. We didn’t procure the exact number of boxes we would use because the elections could even go to a second round. In all the 275 constituencies we would use new ballot boxes.”

Some security and media personnel, as well as election officers were unable to vote in Thursday’s special voting exercise because their names were not found on the special voters’ registration list.

Citi News reports indicated some security officers were left frustrated at various polling stations across the country because their names were not found in the register.

Some lamented they have duly registered for the process several weeks ahead of the special voting day. 

‘Disgruntled special voters get second chance’

The Electoral Commission (EC) together with stakeholders at an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Thursday evening decided to extend the special voting exercise to Sunday, December 4, to allow persons couldn’t vote, do so.

‘Registered special voters can’t vote on December 7’

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said all persons who have registered for as special voters but fail to vote in Thursday and Sunday’s exercise will not be allowed to vote on December 7.

The Commission said it will delete the names of all registered special voters from the main electoral roll to ensure they do not vote twice.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Special Voting: EC to deploy new ballot boxes for Sunday’s exercise appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The meeting was to discuss the concerns of some parties over the security and the integrity of the ballot just a week to the polls.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) had earlier raised issues with the printing of pink sheets by Aero votes, presidential ballot printing by Innolink, and missing party acronym from ballots sent to its stronghold, the Ashanti region.

Citi News’ Sixtus Don Ullo reported that the Electoral Commission used the opportunity to respond to all such concerns.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed hinted that the EC also explained circumstances surrounding the inclusion of more Police personnel on the special voters list at the eleventh hour.

He said they also reached a compromise on the issue “because we had to strike a balance between having the security agencies play their role on the day of election or upholding in the strictest term the regulations we are using to run this election and sacrificing the role on what the security agencies would be playing on the day.”

Atik Mohammed said “the general feeling I got from that discussion was that it is better to somewhat sacrifice a bit of the law so that we can have proper representation of the police on that day.”

The Electoral Commission according to Atik admitted making the amendments before the expiration of the 42-day ultimatum per the C.I. 94, the law regulating the conduct of this year’s elections.

“The agreement from the EC was that the admission was done before the expiration of the 42-day ultimatum  but they are asking us that on the balance of what is happening and the likely implication of not having the security agencies not deployed on the day of the election what are we supposed to do. So what I got from the discussion was that it was not really hurtful to the process so we can admit those additions,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post EC holds crucial IPAC meeting ahead of polls appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.