General News of Monday, 7 November 2016

Source: kasapafmonline.com

EC discriminating against us on final register list – NPP

Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah

The opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP) has accused the Electoral Commission(EC) of deliberately frustrating its programme of scrutinizing the final voters register and the accompanying lists ahead of the elections.

Addressing a Press conference Monday on the matter, the Director of Elections, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah said the commission is discriminating against the NPP in giving them access to the register as all efforts by the party to get the issue resolved have been ignored by the commission.

“The Commission has refused to give us a hard copy version, as used to be the practice for every general election. So we ask, for which political parties was the EC printing copies of the register over the last couple of weeks?
Also, 31 out of the 275 constituency files given to us were corrupted, representing 134 polling stations. Whiles we commend the Commission on the effort to deliver the register on time in keeping with the law we have noticed that the copy given to the NPP is corrupt and incomplete. The final register must include the following lists, as well: PROXY, TRANSFER, SPECIAL, AND ABSENTEE VOTERS LISTS,” Mensah Korsah said.

He said the party had evidence to prove that these lists exist and had the conviction that the commission has passed them on to their major opponent, the NDC, and also all its district offices.

The party said it intends to employ other legitimate means to ensure that the commission provides what is due them, as they have done for other Political Parties should this call be ignored once again.

As elections inches closer, Mr. Adjei-Mensah Korsah said it expects the EC to stay true to its words of ensuring a credible polls by being more transparent and allow for inclusiveness of stakeholders in its activities.