NDC accuses EC of planning to 'rig' December 7 elections

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of gross incompetence in the conduct of the ongoing voter exhibition exercise.

The voter exhibition which began on September 18, 2020, is to give Ghanaian electorates the opportunity to authenticate their details in the EC’s voter register.

But the NDC at a press conference yesterday said the process has been bridled with anomalies which have made scores of Ghanaian electorates not able to complete the process successfully.

Briefing the media, the Director of Elections of the NDC, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah described the exercise as comedy of errors and unacceptable level of incompetence on the part of the Electoral Commission headed by Jean Mensa.

According to him, the conduct and the autocratic leadership style of the EC had resulted in many Ghanaians unable to find their names in the new voter register which was going to disfranchise many on the voting day.

He explained that, per the provisions of the law, the EC was supposed to provide a “provisional register to each registered political party in the form determined by the Commission” but was submitted to them barely 35 hours to the commencement of the exhibition exercise.

“Even with the copies of the register the EC is using for the exhibition so far, our observations show widespread anomalies at various centres across the country. So far, our officials and agents have reported anomalies from all the regions except Asawase in the Ashanti Region.

“This has already given us cause to believe that the anomalies and distortions in the register may be deliberate as it is widespread only in our strongholds. We have come to the conclusion that the current provisional register cannot be relied on as the level of distortion is incredible,” he added.

Mr Ankrah also accused the EC of secretly printing and laminating an unspecified number of voter ID cards to rig elections come December 7.

“Our attention has been drawn to the EC’s district office in Ablekuma Central constituency where EC officials were caught on video late at night printing and laminating unspecified number of voter ID cards. Obviously, this is just one of the modern rigging techniques the EC has employed going into this election.

“We condemn this shameful act and of thievery vehemently and therefore called for an independent investigation of this incident and demand an explanation from the EC as to how any group could be permitted to print such numbers of voter ID cards when exhibition is ongoing,” he stated.