PPP demands e-voting system for 2016
The Progressive People’s Party PPP has served notice that it will not relent on its efforts to have Ghana acquire and operate a full electronic voting system in the 2016 general elections to guarantee a free, fair and acceptable outcome of the elections to all stakeholders.
The party insists that e-voting is the most reliable and desirable system that must be deployed in 2016 and beyond, to overcome the flaws of over voting, ballot stuffing, collation errors, rejected ballot, cost of army of polling agents, large army of temporary EC staff and human interventions that vitiate the integrity of the current system.
Speaking in favour of a full e-voting system over the weekend in the Eastern regional capital, Koforidua, at the second in a series of workshops organised under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to review the country’s electoral system and propose alternatives that conform with international best practice as well as cure the flaws in Ghana’s electoral system, William Dowokpor, Policy Advisor of the PPP said, e-voting remained the most desirable option for the country, given that, the minimalistic reforms that take place after every election have not and would not solve the electoral problems in a comprehensive way.
“We believe the e-voting system will solve many of the avoidable problems we face in our electoral system. To that end, we would not relent in our efforts at advocating for reforms that would lead to the deployment of the e-voting system in 2016” he said.
He challenged the assertion that an individual’s inability to read and write would hamper his or her full participation in the e-voting process, explaining that “thump printing a preferred candidate’s photo on a screen is as easy as indicating the same on a printed ballot paper.”
He suggested that the Electoral Commission undertakes a detailed study of the e-voting system and procure a suitable one for testing in the 2014 election of members of the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies ahead of full deployment in 2016.
Representatives of the National Democratic congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the workshop however, insisted on maintaining and improving upon the current system without necessarily deploying the e-voting system, citing factors such as high illiteracy rate among the electorate, utility and other technology challenges.
