EC addresses ballot paper shortfalls for Ghana Election 2024

The Electoral Commission (EC) says it has taken steps to address the issues of shortfalls and discrepancies regarding ballot papers sent to the Volta and Bono regions.

Addressing an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, said the shortfalls and discrepancies in the ballot papers were detected by the commission’s own staff, and that they were not reported to it by any political party.

The meeting was attended by representatives of political parties, independent candidates, civil society organisations and the country's development partners.

It was to provide information on accreditation and collation centres ahead of Saturday, December 7 elections, but the issue of the shortfall in the ballot papers for the Volta and Bono regions came up strongly during the meeting.

Shortfall 

Dr Asare said to ensure transparency and accountability, the commission sent a memo to inform all political parties about the shortfalls and discrepancies in the ballot papers for the two regions and also ordered for reprinting.

He said the reprinting to fill the shortfalls and correction of discrepancies had been done, and that the ballot papers had been dispatched to the regions, adding that the memo was to inform the political parties.

Dr Asare said although the memo which was meant for the political parties found its way onto the social media the EC had nothing to hide.

The Deputy EC Chairperson emphasised that additional verification was a standard procedure to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the ballot papers.

"It is part of the transparency and accountability mechanisms of the Electoral Commission," he said. 

"We wish to inform our political parties and all the observers here that this is a standard procedure to ensure that all ballot papers are accurate and intact on election day," he said.

Dr Asare also noted that similar shortfalls and discrepancies were discovered and reported back to the head office by their regional directors in Greater Accra, Western North, Upper West, Western and the Middle belt regions.

"If the commission had anything to hide it would not transparently call for a reprint of ballots to make up for the shortfalls," Dr Asare added.

Mistrust 

The Deputy EC Chairperson in charge of Corporate Services urged the public and political parties to disregard acts of mischief aimed at maligning the commission and sowing seeds of mistrust and doubt. 

"The memo in circulation demonstrates the commission's resolve to operate above board and in a transparent and accountable manner," Dr Asare said.

On the issue of collation, Dr Asare said the commission had appointed collation officers with statistical and mathematical backgrounds at the constituency and regional levels to assist Returning Officers and Regional Collation Officers in the performance of their functions.

He said Regulation 2(3)(b) of Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 127 allowed the commission to appoint other persons to assist the Returning Officer. 

In the spirit of that provision, Dr Asare said the commission had appointed collation officers to work under the supervision of Returning Officers.

Dr Asare added that the commission advertised the position of collation officers in the August 15, 2024 issue of the Daily Graphic on Page 12 .

He added that the commission advertised for applicants with backgrounds in statistics, accounting, finance and other related quantitative disciplines to apply, saying a team from the head office and officials in the regions as well as officials from the Ghana Statistical Service, constituted the interview panel.

"Those who were selected are well qualified for the task ahead. The commission will undertake further training for them to ensure that they deliver on Election Day," he stated.

Dr Asare explained that the reason why the commission engaged the officers was to enhance the integrity of the collation. 

Their main function, he said, was to do electronic collation of the polling station results for both the presidential and parliamentary elections on an Excel format provided by the commission.

"They are going to work side by side with our Returning Officers, but independently. The Returning Officers will do the manual collation and compare with that of the Excel collation by the Collation Officers," he said.

The Deputy EC Chairman announced that collation at the regional level would take place at the regional offices of the commission, while the national collation would take place in Accra at a location to be communicated to the parties and agents of presidential candidates very soon.

Regarding accreditation, Dr Asare explained that political parties and presidential candidates would be given accreditation for two agents at the constituency and regional coalition centres, while domestic and international observers would also be accredited, but only accredited persons and organisations would be allowed into the collation centres.

He said the media would be allowed to cover the collation processes at all levels, but said the EC was still in discussion with the Ghana Journalists Association and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association to finalise the arrangements.

Political parties 

Some representatives of the political parties and independent presidential candidates at the meeting said the EC did not consult them on the appointment of the collation officers.

Some of the political parties present, notably the opposition National Democratic Congress, led by its  Director of Elections and Information Technology, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, also raised concerns about the shortfall in the ballot papers.