The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is scheduled to meet with the Electoral Commission (EC) today, Thursday, October 10, 2024, to address concerns surrounding the printing of ballot papers ahead of upcoming elections.
The EC announced plans to begin printing ballot papers and notices of poll starting Friday, October 11, prompting the NDC to seek clarity on the process.
The NDC has expressed concerns over the potential for irregularities, with specific worries about the statistics being used for printing. In past elections, the party has raised issues over alleged instances of additional ballot papers being printed, which has led to heightened scrutiny this time around.
In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Tanko Rashid Computer, the NDC’s Deputy Director of Elections and IT, emphasized the party’s demand for detailed information before the printing process begins.
“The Electoral Commission indicated they were going to give us a revised provisional register. But as we speak now, they don’t have it. They haven’t given us. They have not also given us ballot statistics. Ballot statistics will emanate from the voters’ code book of the register but we don’t have that,” Dr. Rashid Computer stated.
He further questioned how the EC could proceed with printing without providing the necessary figures. “How come we are going ahead to print ballot papers? On which figures are they going to use to print the ballot papers? We have written back to them, indicating our position on that.”
The NDC intends to use the upcoming meeting to ensure they receive the voter code books and related statistics from the EC. Dr. Rashid Computer clarified that while the party does not object to the printing of notices of poll, it insists that the printing of ballot papers should not proceed without the requested data.
“We will send a letter to them that, look, you cannot proceed with the printing of the ballot papers if we don’t have the statistics and then the voter code books of each of the regions. We will not accept that kind of thing, but if they want to go ahead with the printing of the notices of polls, we have no difficulties with that,” he added.