You can be fined, jailed up to 2 years for sharing pictures of ballot papers – Martin Kpebu

Legal Practitioner Martin Kpebu has said perpetrators can be fined and jailed up to 2 years for sharing pictures of ballot papers after casting their votes.

According to him, a voter not supposed to communicate who he has voted for to any person after he enters the boot.

This he says is according to Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) section 31.

Speaking on JoyNews Martin Kpebu said “What the law specifically state is that a voter shall not communicate what he has voted to any other person so meaning that when a voter enters the boot and cast the vote, he is not supposed to communicate information about it to any other person. If a voter does that the voter has committed a crime and can be fined or sent to jail for up to 2 years, so that is Section 31 that they are talking about of the representation of people Act.”

“Taking a picture and sending it out is where there is a problem. Section 31 says no person directly or indirectly induce a voter to display a ballot paper after he has marked or selected it.so as to make known for the candidate for who he has or has not voted for,” he added.

According to him, a voter does not commit an offence by telling others the party he voted for but can be arrested, according to the law, for sharing photos of ballot papers as it breaches the secrecy of the ballot.

If you finish and you tell people who you voted for, that is fine but it is an offence for you to take photos of it and be showing it to people. That breaches the secrecy of the ballot. In the view of the law you can be arrested,” he said.