EC ready for NPP congress

THE Electoral Commission (EC) says it has completed all arrangements to supervise the conduct of the election of flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Saturday.
According to an official of the EC, the commission in collaboration with the party’s Election Committee had dispatched all the necessary ballot papers to the 228 polling centres across the country.
Briefing the Daily Graphic about the role of the commission in the elections, Mr Yaw Owusu Parry, the Director of Public Affairs said, three EC officials would be positioned at each polling station to supervise the conduct of the election.
He explained that the three officials would comprise a presiding officer, who would check the names of the delegates, another official who would issue the ballot paper, while the third person would apply the indelible ink on the finger of the voter.
Unlike the previous congresses of the party, where 2000 delegates were confined to a particular location to elect the party’s flag bearer, the election on Saturday will involve 113,000 delegates following the amendment of the party’s constitution to expand its electoral college.
Five candidates; Mr John Kwame Koduah, a Kumasi based legal practitioner, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, former Chief Executive of the Cardio Thoracic Centre, Mr Alan Kyerematen, a leading member of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the 2008 Presidential Candidate of the party and Mr Isaac Osei, Member of Parliament for Subin and a former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, are contesting for the position of the flag bearer of the NPP.
According to Mr Parry, the approach to the NPP election would be similar to that of the national election, because the EC would provide transparent ballot boxes, and paper screens as well as apply indelible ink on the finger of the voter.
He said after the polls, each polling station would announce the results and transmit the certified results to Accra for coalition, after which the EC would inform the NPP headquarters of the outcome.
Explaining the process further, Mr Fred Oware, First National Vice Chairman said a National Officer would then announce the results in the presence of all the aspirants or their accredited representatives at the NPP National Headquarters in Accra by 1800 hours," he added.
He said the voting pattern would be transparent at each point of the process through an identifiable glaring system which would make it impossible for any one to cheat and urged delegates, especially representatives of aspirants and the media, to avoid making wild allegations about imagined electoral fraud and suspicions because one could not get things done in their favour.
He condemned those who falsely believe the elections would be rigged and said people were making pronouncements that tended to erode confidence in the elaborate electoral system adopted by the party.
Mr Oware explained that the whole country was now classified as one constituency with 230 polling stations, adding that "even though each polling station declares its own results, the overall winner of the election cannot be known until the results from all the polling stations have been compiled.”
He said all regional officers were required to vote within the (constituency) polling station where the office was located, while all National Officers including National Council Members and Overseas Branch delegates would vote at a special polling station to be cited at the National Headquarters.
All other eligible delegates including sitting Members of Parliament, TESCON Representatives and Original Founding Members of the party would vote within their constituencies.
Mr
debunked speculations of vote rigging, stressing that: "All eligible delegates are known members of the community and we are using a voter register with photo affixed to their names for easy identification.”