PNC uses handkerchief as ballot box seals

It was an evening of drama at the New Juaben South Constituency Thursday when the parliamentary candidate for the People’s National Convention shocked electoral officials and security personnel by tearing his handkerchief to use as ballot box seals.

The candidate, Nana Oboadie Boateng, who claimed his party did not supply him seals, initially attempted to use rag as seals for the ballot boxes of Thursday’s special voting exercise in the constituency but was prevented by the electoral officials.

Left with no option, he pulled out from his pocket, a handkerchief which he tore into pieces and used as seals to protect his interest in the presidential and parliamentary ballots, TV3’s Yvonne Neequaye reported.

His action, according to our correspondent, raised eyebrows among the people who gathered at the polling centre at the premises of the Eastern Regional Police Training School and wondered whether Mr Boateng was serious about his actions. “My party did not distribute seals to us,” Mr Boateng told our correspondent, and said “I would have to use my own means to protect my ballot”.

According to Mr Boateng, he doesn’t “believe in these seals the political parties and EC are using. It doesn’t matter what I use, my ballot needs to be protected and no one can prevent me”.