The Electoral Commission (EC) has warns voters who obstruct the work of an election officer would they would be fined or imprisoned not less than two years.
The EC also cautioned voters not to wear any political party dress or take anything whatsoever to the polling station on Election Day that identifies one’s candidate or party.
This was stated in the Election 2016 presidential and parliamentary manual tagged: “A Guide to Voters,” made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
“It is also an offence: to impede or prevent a voter from freely exercising his/her right to vote; to use or threaten to use force or violence against a group of persons or a person; and to inflict or threaten to inflict physical or spiritual injury or harm on a person.
“It is also an offence to force somebody to vote in a particular way,” the manual said.
The EC said was an offence: to tamper, or attempt to tamper in any way with the contents of a ballot box; to compel or induce a candidate to withdraw his or her candidature; and to organise or train a group of persons in the use of force or violence for election purposes.
It is also punishable to excite enmity against a person, group of persons, or political party on the grounds of religious, ethnics, professional, regional, or political affiliation and also to canvass for votes to seek find out how a person intends to vote within 500 meters of a polling station.
To sell alcohol within 500 meters of any of the polling station, to take a polling station anything that reveals the candidate or party you intend to vote for.
The EC noted that it was a crime to give or receive money or something of value as a means of inducing a person to vote, or not to vote in a certain way.
The publication of the EC Elections Guide is captured under the “GNA Tracks Election 2016 Project”, being funded by GOIL, the foremost indigenous oil marketing company and CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year.
The project seeks to sensitise the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, the elections management body and other governance institutions.
It aims at ensuring gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society, and to contribute to the achievement of peaceful polls.
Another objective of the project is to create a platform to dissect the manifestoes of all political parties and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgment.
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