The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have countered a proposal by the Electoral Commission to close forthcoming elections at 3pm.
In a press conference, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, director of elections for the party said the EC’s decision was not well thought through and could disenfranchise particularly, poor farmers who may want to visit their farms in the morning before returning to vote.
“The NDC finds the proposal by the Jean Mensah-led EC to change the closing time of polls from 5 PM to 3 PM in 2024 baffling and mind-boggling. Since the 1992 elections, polls have always closed at 5 PM.
“This has worked perfectly without any challenges whatsoever. It, therefore, beggars belief that the EC would want to change this time-tested arrangement and go for a poorly thought-through alternative which is bound to disenfranchise eligible voters and create needless problems for our electoral system.
“Ghanaians will recall how a similar hasty decision by the EC to declare results within 24 hours after the closure of polls in the 2020 elections failed miserably and led to the rushed declaration of patently flawed results that yielded a percentage aggregate of more than 100%, by the Returning Officer, Mr Jean Adukwei Mensah. One would have thought that Jean Mensah would have learnt the right lessons by now but that appears not to be the case.”
Source: GhanaFeed.com