The Electoral Commission says it cannot be blamed for turning away security personnel from their Special Voting Centres after searching for their names on the register to no avail.
At the Kwadaso Special Voting Centre, the opposition National Democratic Congress had raised concerns some twenty personnel had been turned away by ten o’clock in the morning.
NDC Parliamentary Candidate Erick Asibey told Ultimate News the situation could create a security lapse on December 7 as per his checks; all the personnel who could not vote had already been assigned duty areas for the national elections.
“I spoke to the EC and they said there is nothing they can do beyond telling the commanders to change their duty destinations and rather bring them to where they are supposed to be voting. We know that fifty plus one wins the presidential seat so if about twenty of them are not voting, what can we do?” he queried.
Meanwhile, the District Electoral Officer Thelma Annan pointed out that affected personnel either did not submit their proper details or failed to apply for special voting.
“Most of the security personnel did not submit their names for the special voting so when they come they cannot find their names because we did not get their names to compile for the special registration,” She indicated.
Reporter Ivan Heathcote Fumador indicated that as at ten o’clock in the morning, a hundred and ten persons out of the six hundred and forty registered persons had gone through the exercise conducted under strict COVID 19 protocols.
Kwadaso Constituency has a sizeable number of military personnel voting in the constituency because it hosts the 4th Infantry Battalion and the 2 Brigade barracks of the Ghana Armed Forces.
At the Nhyieso Special Voting Centre located within the Police Training School, some 698 persons were expected to cast their votes.
As of eleven o’clock, some two hundred and fifty persons had voted.
The Presiding Electoral Officer for the station, Gabriel Osei told Ultimate News, all persons who were turned away had similar reports of not having submitted their details to apply for special voting.
“Some people came in thinking once they are part of the security services, they may be able to vote. Meanwhile, they did not apply.” he pointed out.
Covid 19 hand washing and social distancing routines, as well as temperature checks, were duly in place as electoral officers went about their duties.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com
