Deputy Head of Communications at the Electoral Commission, Alhassan Yusif Ayuba has urged political parties to educate the general public on their position on the ballot paper to avoid casting their votes for the wrong candidates.
Mr. Yusif Ayuba made this statement at the meeting held with political parties’ representatives in Accra, themed: Balloting for Positions on The Parliamentary Ballot Papers for the General Elections 2016.
Explaining the process through which the ballot paper is designed, he said the positioning of political parties logo on ballot papers on both presidential and parliamentary ballot papers may not tally.
“For instance, if party A is number one on a ballot for parliamentary candidate, presidential candidate for the same party may be number three on the presidential ballot.”
Speaking to GhanaWeb, Mr Ayuba added that the dynamics will be a bit different because certain constituencies may have less than the specified number contesting on the ballot. According to him, an instance may arise where the presidential candidate for a political party may/would be disqualified whereas a parliamentary candidate for the same party qualifies.
Thus “the commission will come up with the notice of poll which is just a representation of where the candidates will appear on the ballot. So that the general public will know exactly where the position of the parliamentary candidate will be on the ballot and also where the presidential candidate will be on the ballot.”
At the end of the balloting, the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) got the first spot while the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) got the second position before the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The United Progressive Party (UPP) came fourth with the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) occupying the fifth position before the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Independent People’s Party (IPP) in that order.
