Following irregularities with the special voting exercise underway across the country, the acting General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has called for an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting to address the challenges with the process.
The exercise – organised for members of the security services, staff of the Electoral Commission, journalists, and others whose involvement in the conduct of the polls will not enable them to exercise their franchise on Election Day – has recorded several complaints from some persons taking part in the ballot. The most common complaint made by voters is the absence of their names from the register, a situation which led to skirmishes at the Nima Police Station, one of the centres for the poll, resulting in a halt in voting.
On the back of these developments, Mr Boadu, in an interview with Accra100.5FM’s Jedidiah Patrick Anarfi, at the Korle Bu polling station, said “unless the Electoral Commission can come out and tell us the police or military did not present the list on time”, it should take the blame, wondering why after several years of special voting, the commission had failed to learn from past mistakes, with the “same difficulties” arising in subsequent polls.
Mr Boadu, who is also the National Organiser of the leading opposition party, thus, advised the EC to as soon as possible call the stakeholders in today’s poll to a meeting.
“I believe that, immediately, the Electoral Commission should call an IPAC meeting with police officers, soldiers, and all to find a way to resolve the problem,” he added.
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