The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has announced for the information of the general public that it would not alter positions of the presidential candidates on the ballot paper for the December 7 elections.
“Our task here this morning is very simple. We are not here to change positions. We are not here to re-ballot,” she informed the parties. The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, made the announcement on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, during an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting.
The announcement followed speculations that the demise of the presidential candidate of the Ghana Freedom Party, Madam Akua Donkor, would result in altering the positions, particularly the candidates below the number three position that she picked.
However, the EC during the meeting was emphatic that no changes would be made and announced further that the Commission would inform all printing houses to resume work that was 90% complete before the death of the GFP candidate.
“This morning, we are here to inform you of the commission’s decision to maintain the presidential ballot as it is. As you may be aware, and I believe all of you have representatives in the printing houses, we are almost 90% complete with the printing of presidential ballots,” Jean Mensa said.
REPLACEMENT
The Commission, after being officially informed about the death of the GFP presidential candidate, allowed a 10-day window for the party to submit a replacement in accordance with law. However, the EC boss at the meeting yesterday announced the replacement had been disqualified due to “errors” detected on the nomination forms.
She said the errors were communicated to the party and candidate, but they were not corrected. However, in the interest of time, she said the commission decided to disqualify the candidate and has officially written to inform him.
NAME AND IMAGE
The electoral stakeholders and the general public have expressed concerns over possible confusion in the minds of the voters should the GFP withdraw its nomination, at a time the presidential ballots had been printed.
The conversation was that should the party successfully field a new candidate, the papers that had already been printed would be discarded and a new one done with the name and image of the GFP replacement.
Though 90% of the presidential ballots have been printed with the image and name of the late Akua Donkor, the EC says it would go ahead to complete the exercise to save money for the nation.
Jean said, “And you are also aware that following the passing of Madam Akua Donkor, we requested the printing houses to cease printing until the law had taken its course. Now that the presidential candidate or the nominee has been disqualified, the commission would like to inform you that the printing would proceed on the current ballot as is, in the interest of time, and to save this country millions of cities.”
“It will proceed with the ballot that bears the name and the image of the name of the Ghana Freedom Party, their symbol, and the image of Madam Akua Donkor,” she added.
Meanwhile, in order to prevent some voters casting their ballots for the dead, the EC chair said, “We believe that a lot of discussions and advertisements will go out to prevent the citizenry from voting for her.”
