…But NDC wants decision reconsidered
The Centre for
Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have
backed the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) decision to review the voting duration
downwards ahead of the 2020 general election.
They said the idea was worth considering, given
previous conversations about how the time for closing polls affected counting
among other issues could be changed through constitutional instrument and commission
could propose and subsequently send to Parliament for consideration.
However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
has urged the EC to reconsider its plans to review the duration allowed for
voters to cast their ballot downward but should be exploring more sophisticated
measures to quicken the polls.
It said the way to solve it was to reduce the
time for voting but should look at more sophisticated ways of quickening the
voting process to avoid cumbersome rather than reducing the time.
The EC is
considering reducing the duration by an hour to improve the security and speed
of the polling process, traditionally, polls open at 7am and close at 5pm but
casting of ballots may continue hours after the close of polls depending on
number of electorate who were already waiting in the queue.
The commission had also observed voters wait
till the last hour to join the voting queues, late resolution of voting,
casting of ballots poses grave danger to security of ballots, safety of
electoral officers and major concern for it.
Dr
Franklin Oduro, the Deputy Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, indicated that, “I
think it is a good idea for consideration since it is not the first time an
idea has been suggested, I think power of administrative law can be changed
through constitutional instrument because it is Electoral Commission as our
constitution mandates to design and come up with appropriate administrative
methods and procedures”.
However, Evans Nimako, the Director of Elections
and Research of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), welcomed the move on behalf of
his party but called on the EC to consult stakeholders on the matter. “Management
of election day voting activity should be looked into properly,” he said.
But Peter Otukunor, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, pointed out that “we should look at more sophisticated ways of quickening voting processes to avoid making it cumbersome for the electorate to vote quickly, rather than reducing the time”.-citinewsroom.com
