NDC won't tolerate electoral manipulation, Mahama warns
National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer John Dramani Mahama has sounded the alarm on potential election manipulation through ballot printing irregularities.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Sagnarigu, Mahama accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of printing extra ballots in the 2020 election, allegedly for the benefit of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Mahama's concerns come as the EC has started printing ballot papers for the upcoming polls, despite denying any plans to produce more ballots than required. However, Mahama remains skeptical, questioning the neutrality of key electoral stakeholders and urging party agents and election observers to be vigilant.
The NDC has previously expressed concerns over the EC's decision to print ballot papers without releasing a certified voter register or accurate ballot statistics. This, they argue, opens the door to potential manipulation and electoral malpractice.
Mahama's warnings are backed by the party's Director of Elections and IT, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, who highlighted ten key issues with the EC's approach. These include institutional decay, excess ballot concerns, and the NPP's alleged fear of leaving office.
“This election, we are going to make sure that it is transparent and fair. In the past, we have always trusted that everybody who is a stakeholder in the election will behave in a neutral and non-partisan manner. But it doesn’t always work. In 2020, when we went to supervise the printing of the ballot papers after we had finished, we packed them, signed them, and our agents left the printing press. After, they started printing ballots, and some of these papers found their way into the hands of the NPP.
“On election day, we caught NPP agents with ballot papers in their hands. We reported them to the police, but nothing happened. So, for these elections, we are not taking any chances. Just yesterday, one of our election supervisors went to one of the printing houses, and an NPP person came there and wanted to assault him.
“We know that when they finish printing the rest of the papers, instead of shredding them in front of the agents, they keep them and hand them over to the NPP. Nobody is going to get hold of any extra ballot paper to go and dump them in the ballot boxes. This time, we are all going to be very vigilant,” he declared.
Source: Lead News Online
