Electoral Commission Committed To Remain Neutral"

The Electoral Commission (EC) said on Thursday that its neutrality is a constitutional obligation and that it would strive to maintain public trust and confidence. Mr Samuel Boadu, Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the Commission who gave the assurance in Sunyani, warned that any staff of the Commission who would misconduct themselves or got involved in partisan politics would be prosecuted. The Deputy Regional EC Director was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview about the Commission�s preparation towards the forthcoming 10-day exhibition of Biometric Voters Register schedule to begin from Saturday, September 1 to Monday, September 10. The exhibition is a constitutional requirement in every election year for the electorate to check their names and particulars that appear in the voters register. Mr Boadu advised the electorate to participate in the exercise so that all anomalies in the voters register would be rectified for the December 7 polls. He said the exercise would be conducted between 0700 hours and 1800 hours daily during the period in 2,605 polling stations in the Region and warned that the exercise would not be extended after the deadline date. Mr Boadu said each polling station would be supervised by an exhibition official and urged the electorate to cooperate with them. The Deputy Regional EC Director said to make the exercise a success, the Commission had recruited and trained temporary staff. �The Commission will create additional polling stations for those which have more than 1,100 voters to facilitate the work of the exhibition officials,� he said. Mr Boadu said most of the exhibition materials had arrived from the Commission�s head office in Accra and by the close of Thursday August 30, the rest would arrive for distribution to their district offices. Mr Frank Nunoo, another Deputy Director of the Commission in the Region, said the names and particulars of those who engaged in double registration during the voters registration exercise would also be exhibited. He said the EC had given out names of such culprits to the police and they would soon be arrested and prosecuted. �Their names would be deleted from the voters register as well, and they would not be allowed to vote,� Mr Nunoo added.