Curb incidence of rejected ballots — IEA
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is calling for a joint collaboration between the Electoral Commission (EC), political parties and the National Commission for Civic Education to curb the high incidence of rejected ballots.
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The institute believes the incidence of rejected ballots, which has assumed alarming proportions, detracts from Ghana's improved democratic process.
The recommendation is part of the IEA Electoral Reform Project.
A report presented by Dr Ransford Gyampo, a Senior Fellow at the Governance Unit of the Institute, said: "The high incidence of rejected ballots has undermined the will of the people during elections."
He said there may not have been a second round election in 2008 if the issue of rejected ballots was kept at an acceptable limit.
Describing what a rejected ballot was, Dr Gyampo said: “It is a ballot that cannot be counted as a legitimate vote for one candidate or another for varied reasons.”
"The ballot paper does not have an official mark; the voter has cast more votes than he or she is entitled to; the voter has made writings or marks by which he or she can be identified; the voter has left the ballot paper blank or has marked or thumb-printed it in such a way that it is not clear for whom he or she intended to vote," he explained.
Chronicling the incidence of rejected ballots from 1992 to 2012, the report noted the canker was taking a turn for the worse.
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"Hypothetically, the ‘Rejected Ballot Party’ placed third in the 2008 presidential race ahead of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), who placed third with 113,494 (1.34 %) and behind Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the NDC, who placed second with 4,056,634 (47.92%).
"In short, if rejected ballots were a political party, they could boast of a steady increase in popularity ahead of the smaller parties since Ghana’s return to multiparty democracy in 1992. There is no evidence that, for instance, all the rejected ballots in the 2008 runoff elections were NPP votes, neither is there any evidence that such votes could have gone to the NDC. Had it not been for the high incidence of rejected ballots, the 2008 elections could have produced a clear winner in the first round. Verily, verily then, the EC would have had no business spending millions of dollars on a second round. The second round (or even the third) vote was simply unnecessary, probably a classic case of causing financial loss…”
The IEA has, therefore, charged all stakeholders to put their shoulders to the wheel to fight the canker in the supreme interest of Ghana's democracy.
“The IEA is calling on the EC, NCCE and political parties to work together to ensure a sustained educational and sensitisation programme on the voting/thumb-printing process. Polling agents must be vigilant to keep an eye on malevolent election officials who may deliberately invalidate ballot papers. Such officials, the IEA recommends, must be prosecuted,” the report concluded.