The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of ordering its printers, Aero Vote, to print pink sheets without serial numbers contrary to provisions of the Public Elections Regulation (CI 94).
In a statement released on Tuesday, the party said "The Public Elections Regulations, 2016 (CI 94) in the Schedules part at pages 48 and 49 has a sample of the exact format that the law says Form Eight, or the Pink Sheet for both parliamentary and presidential results should take. Material to the issue today is that at the top left hand of Form Eight is space for the unique serial number for each form to be inserted" but "we went there today to inspect the work and were surprised to be told by Aero Vote that they have been told not to emboss serial numbers on the pink sheets".
This according to the NPP, "is not acceptable" as "it affects the integrity of the base document for the declaration of results".
They party therefore called for an emergency meeting of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee to discuss this issue and other matters, including seeking complete clarity on what happens in the event of over-voting.
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But in swift response to the NPP's concerns, the EC has denied the NPP's claims describing them as false.
According to the Commission, the NPP's claim that printing of the pink sheets had started today (November 15) and that they had spoken to the printers were untrue because "printing of the Forms will start on Thursday, 17 November, 2016" and "we have been informed that no management staff of Aero Vote told officials of the NPP ‘that they have been told not to emboss serial numbers on the pink sheets'â€.
In a statement signed by its Head of Communications, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, the Commission assured that the integrity of the election was not in doubt because "for the first time in our electoral history, these forms will be printed in Ghana with enhanced security features that significantly boost the integrity of results collation in our elections".
The EC regretted the NPP's allegations and urged political parties to desist from such acts.
"It is very regrettable for a political party to engage in pre-emptive allegations and suspicions with the intention to unnecessarily heighten public tensions ahead of the elections. The New Patriotic Party could have easily verified the facts surrounding this issue with the Commission. Choosing to rush to the media with unfounded claims of non-existent plans to manipulate election results is not helpful to anyone".
"We again take the opportunity to urge political parties to desist from making unsubstantiated allegations about the electoral process and work with the Commission to deliver credible and transparent elections to the people of Ghana", the statement added.
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