Review of election procedure is on-going - Kanga

Koforidua, Aug. 24, GNA - Discussions to make it possible for voters in the country to sign or thumb print against their names in the voters register after voting in an election are on-going. Mr David Adeenze Kanga, Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) in-charge of Finance and Administration, who announced this, said the integrity of the polling process in the country was assured and results of any elections conducted by the EC would be declared. Mr Kanga, who was briefing the media on the forthcoming District Level Elections at Koforidua, observed that it was better to allow aggrieved people to talk than to restrict them and later they react violently.

He said candidates contesting the elections had no right to mount their own political platforms to campaign for votes but could only campaign on platforms mounted for them by the EC. However, Mr Kanga said the candidates could undertake house-to-house or inter-personal campaigns and explained that though it was the responsibility of the EC to organize elections in the country, it had no mandate or responsibility to mobilize people to vote in the elections.

Mr Kanga asked the media not to expect long queues at the elections as it occurs during the Parliamentary and Presidential elections because lower levels of elections, did not normally attract high patronage. He said unlike higher levels of elections, candidates in the district level elections had no resources to mobilize large numbers of voters.

Mr Kanga advised media personnel to always direct their questions to the District Directors and other senior officials of the EC and not to the temporal officials of the EC.

Mr Paul Boateng, Eastern Regional Director of the EC, said the platforms that would be organized by the EC for the candidates in the elections were to enable the candidates present their manifestoes to the electorates.

He explained that platform monitors engaged by the EC to organize the platforms, had no mandate to disqualify any candidate. Mr Eric Mensah-Bonsu, Deputy Regional Director of the Commission, advised media practitioners to learn the rules and regulations about the elections in order not to create tension.

He urged them to avoid unscientific opinion polls as such results could furnish the electorates with baseless expectations which could influence the rejection of genuine results of an election by supporters of a defeated candidate. 24 Aug. 06