This is according to the Electoral Commission (EC), which was been calling for calm, as more security personnel are being turned away from polling centres across the country.

The Head of Communications at the Commission, Eric Dzakpasu confirmed to Citi News that,“ the police hierarchy have been informed, they know and they are making arrangements to deploy such people to their various constituencies to work on election day so they can also vote.”

Clarifying the directives of the Commission for the special voting, Mr. Dzakpasu explained that, “if your name is on the special’s voters list, go to your constituency and vote there. But where your name is not on the special voters’ lists, you will have to vote on the 7th of December.”

Speaking to the possible reasons for the challenges, he noted that, “either their names were not presented or the names were presented but their details in terms of the polling centre code were not accurate.”

Sunyani: Soldiers turned away right before deployment

It is as yet unclear if the same arrangement is being made for military personnel as Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku reported from the Sunyani that some soldiers at the Liberation barracks were turned away right before their deployment across the country.

Some soldiers came from as far as the army barracks in Takoradi, Western Region. The commanding officers were unable to confirm if the deployment schedules would be reviewed to allow the soldiers to vote in December 7.

According to him, some of the disgruntled soldiers threatened to take away the ballot boxes if they were disenfranchised.

But this did not go down well with some of the commanding officers who duly sanctioned the frustrated soldiers.

This extension was intended for persons whose names were included in the earlier special voters’ list or the updated one provided to political parties.

Persons who transferred their votes and whose names appeared on the special voters’ list, but could not vote on December 1, 2016, are also factored into the second phase.

Persons who did not transfer their votes, but whose names appeared on the special voters’ list in the constituency where they are registered to vote, comprise the final category of persons who were expected to benefit from the extension of the special voting.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Police planning to deploy personnel to their constituencies – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

About 127,900 persons are expected to cast their votes in the special voting exercise across the country on Thursday, December 1 ahead of the main general elections on December 7.

But Mr. Markins says he doubts the credibility of the list handed to them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”IZKN8c8hmGpZzLRA2bGFNd7k0iEnyqHW”]Speaking on the Eyewitness News on Wednesday, he said, the Electoral Commission (EC) had not presented the exact complement of the list of special voters in his constituency to the District electoral office.

According to him the EC had smuggled new names including unto the list without the consent of the various stakeholders.

He also alleged that those added the EC to the list were not security or media personnel or election officials as expected by election laws.

“We received the special voters register for this election and we cross-checked with the EC and upon our reconciliation, the names that are in the register are not the same of the EC district office has been provided with.”

“When we questioned her about the names, we found 18 year-olds, 21-year-olds and these people are not security officials, or election officials and they are not also journalists,” he said.

He expressed worry that there appeared to be 190 new names of special voters the EC had added the list that was not yet available to the Effutu district office.

“Tomorrow morning, I will personally be an agent, with another person. Anybody who does not qualify to be a special voter and for some reason come to the polling station will be stopped and will not be allowed to vote,” he said.

“Elections is a serious business, so if you sit unconcerned, things we get under your knee and before you realize, its gone. It will not happen. We are stakeholders, and we will prevent any unwanted person to attempts to vote,” he added.

‘Name of temporary election staff not available’

With barely 24 hours to special voting exercise, Mr Afenyo Markin said the party is yet to be given the list of temporary election staff who are expected to serve at the various polling stations contrary to the electoral laws.

He further called on the Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei and the Effutu District office of the Commission to immediately furnish him with the full list of persons to participate in the special voting exercise before the start of polls at 7am on Thursday.

He further noted that the NPP will file a protest to stop the special voting exercise if the EC does not provide the list by 7am.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ll file protest to stop special voting if… – Afenyo Markin appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A memo intercepted by the citifmonline.com indicated the Ghana Police Service is collaborating  with the Electoral Commission (EC) to add the more names of Police officers and recruits to the special voters’ list.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1ihKmz3acJLE0dCEsn5WJ3kpLXaSNTll”]The exercise for the creation of the special voters’ list ended on October 28; 42 days ahead of the December election as stipulated by law.

The memo directed Commanders in the Service to liaise with EC officials to add more names to the list.

But some political parties who have described the move as illegal and have called for an emergency Inter-party advisory committee meeting to discuss the issue.

The General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Attik Mohammed in an interview on the Eyewitness News said, “we find it an extremely unacceptable” that the EC would give the impression to the Police service that more names could be added to the list even though window for such additions has been closed.

He added that the development was a “recipe for crisis” for the country’s upcoming polls.

“Once you allow one person to add, it means that the others can also make a case that, we want to be added so they should be added. This offends the very regulation we are using to conduct this year’s elections.”

Attik Mohammed expressed doubt Police recruits needed to be added to the list of special voters because according to him, they played no special roles during the elections.

He called on the Electoral Commission to ignore any such dealing with the Police Service to ensure a smooth electoral process.

He further called for an emergency multi-stakeholder meeting with the EC to address the issue.

Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) expressed disappointment the EC was engaging the Police service in such an action without consulting the various political parties.

The party’s campaign chairman, Peter Mac-Manu said that the additions, if carried out will cause disturbances at the various polling stations.

He stated that the NPP had directed its agents to challenge anyone whose name was not on the party’ copy of the voters’ register list.

He noted that the party was expecting an Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting later this week to express its concerns.

–

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

The post Parties protest ‘secret additions’ to EC’s special voting list appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.