The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has shot down the Electoral Commission’s proposal to close polls at 3:00 pm in 2024.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the director of elections for the party, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah averred that the proposal if implemented could disenfranchise many people especially “poor farmers” in rural areas who may want to go to the farm early morning when polls have not opened and return to vote in the evening.
“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.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
