EC biased against some parties - PPP

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of being prejudiced against some political parties in the run-up to the December polls.

The Executive Secretary of the PPP, Richard Nii Amarh, has alleged that there were deliberate attempts by the election-conducting body to exclude certain candidates from the electoral process.

“Some of the actions that the EC has been taking suggests that the EC is not being fair,” Mr Armah told Umaru Sandah on The Big Issue on Saturday, November 12.

For him, the EC needs to be a neutral “referee” but the “EC seems to have a precondition in their mind that some parties are not to be taken seriously so we will deal with them in any way we like”.

He explained that on the day of balloting for presidential candidates, the PPP “was called two minutes before Madam Charlotte Osei started addressing the press, which means if we hadn’t gathered intelligence to go there, they would have done the balloting and we would not be present”.

He also condemned comments by the EC chairperson when she addressed international media recently in London, where she suggested that Hassan Ayariga would lose the election.

“Of course, you have a political party which you are going to vote for but do you have to make it obvious as a chairperson of the EC that you think somebody is not going to win? Is it fair as a referee? We should ask her who Charlotte Osei thinks will win the elections since she knows those who are going to lose?” he stated.

According to him, it appears “there was an effort by the EC to ensure that certain candidates do not get unto the ballot paper”.