ACCRThree political parties contesting the December elections have rejected the new voting method proposed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), describing it as a recipe for confusion. The parties - Convention People’s Party (CPP), People’s National Convention Party (PNC) and United Ghana Movement (UGM) - said the method would lead to total confusion on election day and spark off a national crisis.
Under the voting method, devised by the OAU, polling stations would open from 7 a.m to 11 a.m, for voters to check their names in the register, then form queues to vote. Nobody would be allowed to join a queue to vote once voting begins. According to the NPP, this would ensure that no one is able to vote at more than one polling station.
In separate interviews conducted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra at the weekend, Nii Noi Dowuona, General Secretary of CPP, Mr. Ahmed Ramadan, National Treasurer of PNC, and Mr. Lawrence Adotey Addo, the running mate of UGM’s Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, acted as spokesmen for their parties.
Mr Ramadan said such a proposal should have come up earlier at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings, for proper deliberations and not seven weeks before elections. He said some political parties are used to making statements, which create unnecessary tension.
Mr. Ramadan called on parties to be circumspect in their statements so as not to lay any grounds to discredit the results before the elections.
Mr. Addo asked the NPP to provide the other parties with details of the method. He described the method as not favourable because it is cumbersome and would disenfranchise majority of the electorate. Mr. Addo said his party would resist any electoral system that does not favour the masses. He said whatever good intentions the NPP might have for the proposal, the timing is very wrong.
On his part, Nii Noi said the December elections are very crucial for the development of democracy and should not be used for an experiment of a new voting method. “Who polices the queues to ensure that no one joins after 11 a.m? he asked.
“Armed men cannot be used because their presence at polling stations would scare voters.” Nii Noi said under such a system, a party or parties could organise thugs to disrupt the queue at the stronghold of another party, which could lead to violent confrontation. He said the system might have worked effectively in other countries, but Ghana cannot take such a risk with election 2000.
Prof. Kofi Awoonor, National Vice-Chairman of the ruling Democratic Congress (NDC), and Mr. Albert Kofi Arhin, Director of Elections of the Electoral Commission (EC) have also rejected the method.
The NPP had asked the NDC and EC to provide alternative measures to check rigging
