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Political parties ask Voters
Register to be published with photos on website
Accra, Oct. 15, Ghanadot/GNA - A number of opposition
political parties has called on the Electoral Commission
(EC) to publish the Voters Register with photos on its
website and provide political parties with copies two weeks
before the December polls.
The votes of security officers, who would vote before
December 7 2008, should also be counted on the same day to
forestall rigging, Dr Kwabena Adjei, Chairman of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Spokesperson for the
opposition parties, told a press conference in Accra on
Wednesday.
The other opposition political parties were the People's
National Convention (PNC), United Renaissance Party (URP)
and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) represented by their
Chairman, Leader and Youth Organizer in that order.
Dr Adjei said the parties had intercepted a document that
detailed plans by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to
rig the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. However,
he could not provide concrete proof that the document was
prepared by the NPP.
He accused the EC of collusion and complicity in the
stratagem, saying: "The document betrays the cosy relations
between some senior officials of the EC and the NPP and
speaks volumes about the attitude and the impunity of the
EC, confirming our suspicion that the NPP is manipulating
the electoral process and supports our growing lack of
confidence in the EC."
He listed 28 points, which the NPP was supposedly planning
to implement before and during the elections to ensure that
they were returned to power.
The points included plans to connive with EC officials at
the polling stations to intentionally use the just ended
limited registration exercise to bloat the Register in NPP
strongholds and to intentionally create shortage of
electoral materials in NDC strongholds.
The document also contained plans to replace legitimate
ballot boxes with fake ones containing ballots that have
been thumb-printed for NPP, the use of inferior inkpads in
NDC strongholds to ensure that most ballots in those areas
were soiled with ink and, therefore, declared as spoilt
ballots during counting.
"Our men in the EC came out with this new plan since the
previous one may fail," he quoted the document as saying.
Dr Adjei also noted that the document pointed to the use of
violence to intimidate agents of the opposition parties at
polling stations and the use of power cuts and interruptions
in telephone communications, especially in areas such as the
Central, Western, Northern and Volta Regions as well as the
Zongos, during the elections.
He said part of the plan was also to get NPP members to
occupy positions in the EC and if not possible, influence EC
officials with money and other gains to get them to play
game.
"They also intend to infiltrate NDC ranks and occupy many
polling station agents' positions with the view to
compromising NDC position - they also plan to bring fake
ballot boxes containing ballots thumb-printed for NDC to use
as evidence to claim that it is the NDC which is trying to
rig the elections," he said.
Dr Adjei accused the EC of gross arbitrariness during the
recent limited registration, photo taking and exhibition
exercises, saying, that all that went to confirm the
contents of the document intercepted.
He noted that the Register as it stood now was dirty and
was, therefore, not a credible document for elections.
Dr Adjei said at the end of the limited registration
exercise 1,835,417 names were added to the Register, while
the estimated growth in population of 18 year olds indicated
that between 2004 and now, only about 500,000 people turned
18 years in Ghana.
"This represents an addition of 1,335,417 which cannot be
properly accounted for by any stretch of imagination," he
said.
GNA
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