Politics

NDC to pressurise EC for referenda malpractices updates

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will continue to mount pressure on the Electoral Commission (EC) for updates on the investigation into alleged malpractices recorded during the referenda on the creation of six new regions.

According to the party, the EC appeared not to be doing anything about that incident and feared going into another referenda on the election of Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) gloating over electoral breaches which is a threat to democratic dispensation.  

Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the NDC, pointed out that “taking a look at what has happened with the view of making corrections is to improve the whole processes and to ensure that in future those breaches are not repeated.

“It does not matter whether we have worked with the output of the referenda, we have to look at the processes because there are other referenda ahead of us, we are for instance going to have another referenda on the election of MMDCEs and others in future.

“If you gloat over those breaches, other people will look at it and say this is normal, very soon, you will come to accept that the rule will become the exception and the exception will become the rule, you will create challenges for our democracy so we still insist and we will pursue this matter,” Mr Asiedu Nketia warned.

Videos of some persons allegedly thumb printing multiple ballot papers went viral on social media, with many suggesting that the acts took place during the referenda.

Although election observer group, Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) said its 50 observers cannot attest to seeing such malpractices, it called on the EC to investigate the issue, however, the EC in a response stated that it will not shield any of its staff found culpable in the act.

CODEO had called on the EC and the Police to investigate alleged malpractices during the referenda although the elections took place in a calm and peaceful electoral environment, there were a number of reports of alleged electoral anomalies during the process and asked for the prosecution of persons found to have indulged in various alleged malpractices during the exercise.

-citinewsroom.com

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