Upper East Region receives 2020 election materials
The Upper East Regional Directorate of the Electoral Commission (EC) has taken delivery of election materials for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary polls on December 7.
The materials, which included; ballot papers, ballot bags, Biometric Verification Devices among other things, were received in the presence of officials of the EC, the Ghana Police Service and political parties.
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All but Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) for five constituencies which would arrive later according to the EC, were received and inspected, counted and certified by all stakeholders including political parties.
Brouhaha
The materials are been kept in a building at the Regional Police Headquarters, where political parties were allowed to put their padlocks on the door.
This was after an initial objection by EC officials.
Sealed
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Regional Research and Elections Officer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Amadu Mogtar said the materials were counted and it was up to the number and were all sealed and serial numbers were intact.
He said for previous elections ,particularly in the Upper East Region, materials were usually kept in the said building, however, the various political parties were allowed to also use their padlocks to lock up the building.
“This has always been the practice anytime the materials were not stored in the police armoury but the EC didn’t want us to put our padlocks there,” he added.
The Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Donatus Atanga Akamugri, noted that the parties, especially the two major political parties were not satisfied with the arrangement and protested which resulted in consultation between the Regional EC officials and their superiors.
The Deputy Regional Director of the EC, Mr Worlanyo Mensah Tegah, told the GNA the practice to allow political parties to also use their padlocks to lock up the building where the election materials were kept was not constitutional and violated electoral laws.– GNA.
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