Electoral Commission seeks views to check multiple voting

Koforidua, Feb. 27, GNA - Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr David Adeenze Kanga, has called for suggestions on how to ensure effective vigilance at polling stations to help stop multiple voting during elections.

He made the appeal during an expanded Eastern Regional Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Koforidua on Thursday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the various political parties that participated in the 2008 elections. The meeting, which was organized by the EC, was facilitated by KAB Governance Consult and sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Mr Kanga called on political parties to condemn cheating at elections and educate their supporters to be true democrats and respect the electoral laws.

He wondered why people could commit crimes like multiple voting and could come out in the open to celebrate it by telling people the number of times they voted without feeling guilty. Mr Kanga called for state support for political parties to enable them to have active representation at polling stations during elections. He called on political parties to do away with mistrust and suspicion for the electoral process, a situation he described as the "biggest devils" haunting the country. The Eastern Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Alecs Agobo, called for ways of empowering security personnel deployed at polling stations to enable them enforce the right process at those stations.

He alleged multiple voting on the islands in the Afram Plains under the watch of a duty security man, who he said was helpless because he was alone and threatened not to intervene, else he would be drowned in the Volta Lake.

Mr Julius Debrah, Eastern Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), called for the introduction of electronic voting system in the country to help avoid the issue of double registration. He called for joint training of stakeholders in the electoral system before elections to avoid the situation where on an election day, presiding officers would attempt to use their discretion rather than follow laid down directives.