[ 2016-11-21 ]

Police, EC In Secret Deal Over Special Voting
There appears to be some behind-the-scene moves
between the Electoral Commission (EC) and the
Ghana Police Service to introduce more names into
the already compiled special voters’ list,
raising questions about the commission’s
sincerity.

The move is likely to cause outrage and further
raise doubts about the EC’s neutrality ahead of
the December 7 crucial general election since the
political parties are said not to be aware of the
situation.

In addition, the EC’s final register, as posted
on its website, is said to be different from the
list submitted to the political parties.

The disparities are obviously causing anxiety
among the political parties.

DAILY GUIDE sources say with 11 days to the
special voting and with the EC already releasing
65,000 people as eligible special voters to all
the parties, the police administration has
reportedly written to the commission to key in
more names of recruits in training to enable them
exercise their franchise in the special political
exercise.

The IGP, in a wire message sent to police
formations – a copy of which is available to
DAILY GUIDE – has charged commanders to liaise
with the EC district officers to virtually compile
new list of special voters – when the exercise
had long been closed.

Breach Of C.I. 94

Sources say the move, when executed, would be a
clear breach of C.I. 94 – the instrument being
used to regulate the December 7 polls.

“As at November 18, there was a directive from
the IGP to all police regional, divisional,
district, and unit commanders to liaise with their
respective EC officials to key in supposed missing
names of all security personnel within their
jurisdiction,” the source indicated.

He added that “it is an illegality that must not
be allowed to stand.

“It is also inconsistent with the law, the
directive from the IGP to officers commanding
police training schools to liaise with police
regional commanders to key in names of recruits in
training on to the special voters list to enable
them participate in the early voting.”

65,000 Voters

Clearly, it is being done at the blind side of the
political parties because the EC released a list
of some 65,000 it said were expected to cast their
ballot under special voting on December 1, 2016.

Head of Communication at the EC, Eric Kofi
Dzakpasu, recently gave the breakdown as 871 for
media personnel, 23,567 for security services and
40,563 election officials and as far as C.I. 94 is
concerned.

The application to be entered on the list of
special voters has been determined and concluded
as far back as October 28, 2016 – which was 42
days to polls day.

“The C.I. 94 spells out first of all, who
qualifies to apply to be entered into the list of
special voters and how that application process
ought to be done. It also spells out where and
when that process ought to be completed. And the
directive from the IGP contravenes the
provisions,” the source said among other
things.

“As clearly stated in the C.I. 94, only an
already registered voter can apply to be entered
into the special voters’ list if the applicant
meets the conditions set out by the law. Under
Regulation 23 (1), 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,” it added.

“It is legally impossible to be having an
exercise of adding more names to the special
voters’ list which the law clearly states the
application ought to be over and done with not
later than forty-two (42) days before the polling
day of December 7, 2016.”

Conflicting Final Register

DAILY GUIDE has also noticed an unusual
occurrence on the website of the EC where the
commission appears to be entering different
figures for the total number of registered
voters.

The EC’s official list sent to parties has total
voter population of 15,683,910. But the figure on
its website is different, where it posts
15,703,890 as the total number of people on the
register, showing a clear difference of 20,980.

A similar incident happened in 2012 when the then
EC boss, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, declared the
presidential results with figures different from
what was given to the parties before the
exercise.

He had declared President John Mahama of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) as
president-elect with a register containing
14,158,890 voters; but before the election he had
given the parties a register with 14,031,793
voters which accounted for a difference of a
whopping 127,097.

Source - Peacefmonline

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