NDC threatens to sue EC over transfer of votes

Cape Coast, Nov. 13, GNA - Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate for Cape Coast Constituency on Thursday, threatened that the Party would sue the Electoral Commission (EC) if it failed to furnish it with particulars of voters seeking to transfer their votes to the constituency, to enable it investigate and ascertain their authenticity.

He said all attempts by the Party to have such particulars from the Cape Coast Metropolitan Office of the EC had proved futile, and Mr Anthony Nyame the Electoral Officer, failed to honour earlier promises to make copies of the particulars available to all the political parties.

Addressing a press conference to register the Party's protest on the "unfolding events on the vote transfers", Mr Barton-Odro said as at Wednesday, the EC had received 2,515 applications for vote transfers to the constituency alone, and expressed the view that the EC was conniving with the NPP, since the figure was huge. He claimed that rather than provide the particulars, the EC had asked the NDC agents to copy them which he said, was impossible due to the huge number involved.

Mr Barton-Odro said the EC had earlier at a Municipal Inter-Party Advisory Committee (MIPAC) meeting agreed that such mass transfers were tantamount to rigging and asked why it should later turn round to effect such transfers.

He alleged that students from UCC and Cape Coast Polytechnic, who were transported to the metropolitan office of EC on Tuesday, were influenced with money by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and said "democracy is being dragged into the mud" Mr Barton-Odro said at another meeting on Wednesday, the EC did not allow the political parties to express their views, but rather imposed a decision to site an office at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) stressing that it was not a MIPAC decision to site an office at UCC.

When contacted Mr Nyame, explained that he asked the political parties to copy the particulars of those seeking to transfer their votes, because the EC did not have the resources to make copies available to them.

Mr Ekow Danquah-Smith, Central Regional Chairman of NPP, denied the allegation that NPP was influencing students in the two institutions to transfer their votes.

When GNA visited UCC campus, the transfer of votes was going on smoothly with particulars of 160 of the students having been taken as at 11:30 am, with representatives of both TEIN and TESCON monitoring. In another development, Dr Joseph Samuel Annan, NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Constituency also alleged at the press conference that he was assaulted on Thursday by Nana Ato Arthur Central Regional Minister, at the EC Office in Elmina and that a different story would have been told if the Minister's body guard had not intervened.

Nana Arthur, who is also contesting the seat on the ticket of NPP, denied the allegation in a telephone interview and explained that it was rather Dr Annan who confronted him about threats he the Minister was purported to have made, and that he in turn, just asked him "which threats?" and went away. 13 Nov. 08