The public has been advised by the Electoral Commission (EC) to reject any claims that it is secretly printing more ballots than agreed upon.
The EC asserts that it is false for anyone to imply, much less assert, that this is the case.
During a media tour of printing facilities hired to produce ballots for the general election in 2024, Dr Bossman Asare, the EC’s deputy chairperson, made the denial on Friday.
He clarified that because the counting and sealing of such materials are carried out in front of representatives from each party, the precise number of ballots heading to any given area or district is known based on the ballot data provided to the candidates and political parties.
“This is the particular number going to this region, this is the particular number going to this constituency, so if you hear anywhere that the Electoral Commission has printed more than the necessary ballots, that’s a complete lie, because the parties are aware, they know the ballot statistics for each region, for each constituency, and in this year’s election what the Commission said is that we are giving each constituency an increase of two percent, and that’s what we are printing.
“So if you hear anywhere that oh the EC has printed excess of 2,000, 3,000 it’s not true. The parties are here and the party agents themselves can testify that indeed the numbers the EC has given to the parties, that’s what we are printing, that’s what the printing houses are printing, and that’s what EC officials are also checking, the parties are also checking.
“And as I indicated, when we finish, all the ballots for each constituency, as far as each region is concerned will be bagged and the parties are going to have their seals on the bags, the EC is also going to have its seals on the bags. So everything is very, very transparent.”
The denial comes after Richard Jakpa, the National Democratic Congress agents’ supervisor, claimed that printing companies hired to print for the Ashanti and Eastern regions—two bastions of the ruling New Patriotic Party—as well as the Savannah and North East regions, which are home to the two front-runners for president, John Mahama and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia—were printing 3,000 extra ballots per constituency, implying a hidden agenda.
“It’s too much of a coincidence to have their two strongholds, and where the two flagbearers come from, printing in excess of 3,000 per constituency as internal printing house operational losses,” he alleged.
Source: Myjoyonline.com