The irregularities that have fraught the special voting exercise has made it “a disaster and a fiasco”, Ibrahim Adjei, a member of pro-opposition pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has said.
According to him, not only are several security personnel disenfranchised, but also people as young as 18 are taking part in the early voting exercise.
Mr Adjei said the situation with the special voting exercise was a harbinger of the 7 December polls and accused the Electoral Commission of not living up to expectation.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has suggested that special voting exercise be extended.
“We must consider an extension in the voting for the officials who are facing challenges finding their names and other details,” national coordinator of CODEO Albert Kofi Arhin said on Thursday, 1 December.
This comes in the wake of confusion over missing names on the list of special voters.
At the Nima Police Station in the Ayawaso East constituency of the Greater Accra Region, the exercise was suspended.
Reports from the station said most of the police officers who had gone to vote could not trace their names on the special voters’ list.
In the Ashanti Region too, some military and police personnel complained that they were being prevented from casting their vote because they cannot trace their names on the register.
The Director of Communications of the Electoral Commission, Mr Kofi Dzakpasu, told Prince Minkah on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show that the inability of the security officers to vote could be attributed to the inability of their High Commands to submit their names.
Mr Dzakpasu also said some personnel may have relocated to different places but may not have transferred their vote as required by law and so cannot vote in their current places of residence.
He added that personnel who may also have made errors in submitting their voter ID numbers may not be able to vote.
Ghanaians are electing a new president and new parliament for a fresh four-year term. Seven candidates are contesting in the presidential race.
Mr Arhin insists that arrangements must be made for those who could not vote to do so to avert a situation where disenfranchised security officers may boycott duty on 7 December. “So we urge the EC to seriously consider an extension of the special voting period,” he told Accra-based Starr FM.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
