Election 2020: Over 3.5 million Ghanaians failed to vote

The December 7, 2020, Presidential and Parliamentary elections had a 79 per cent voter turnout, data from the Electoral Commission (EC) proves.

According to the EC, out of the total number of 17,027,641 registered voters on the electoral roll, 13,434,857 voters turned up at the various polling centres to vote for their preferred candidate on election day.

These figures show that 3,592,784 registered voters did not exercise their franchise.

At a press conference to declare the winner for the Monday polls, Jean Mensa, the EC Chairperson said, “The election was conducted in 38,622 polling stations across the country and in 275 constituencies. At the end of the transparent, fair, orderly, timely and peaceful Presidential Elections, the total number of valid votes cast was 13,432,857 representing 79% of the total registered voters.”

Details further indicate that the total valid votes in the polls were 13,119,460, while total rejected ballots were 313,397 representing 2.333 per cent of the total votes.

Making a comparative analysis with the 2016 elections, the total registered voters at the time were 15,712,499. Out of this number, shows again that, those who voted in the 2016 general elections were 10,880,999.

The data, however, can be translated into 69.25 per cent voter turnout in the 2016 election. The total number of valid votes then was 10,713,650.

167,346 of the votes representing 1.54 per cent were, however, recorded as invalid.