NDC COMMEND ELIGIBLE VOTERS FOR PEACEFUL AND TRANSPARENT 2012 ELECTIONS

Johnson Asiedu-Nketia

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has commend the December 2012 elections as the most transparent, free, fair and peaceful elections ever conducted since Ghana gain independent.

The NDC has reiterated the fact that the biometric technology enabled the Electoral Commission (EC) to have the cleanest register ever used in any elections in the country; that the verification equipment completely eliminated the incidence of multiple voting, which used to characterise previous elections in Ghana, and provided a counter check for the manual tallying of voters and the issuing of ballot papers at the polling stations.

According to the NDC, for the first time, the two major political parties applied their own seals to all ballot boxes in addition to the EC's seals which provided further protection against the snatching of ballot boxes while security personnel deployed in the elections were all trained and provided with copies of a code of conduct to guide them in the discharge of their duties.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, last-thursday, in reaction to allegations by the NPP of fraud in the 2012 presidential elections results which was declared by EC boss, Mr Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC, who spoke on behalf of the party, said these measures were additional to the already existing transparency measures that had been in existence in all previous elections such as the maintenance of party agents by all candidates at all polling stations and the open counting and declaration of results immediately after voting closes at all polling stations in the presence of the media, civil society organisations, accredited internal and external observers, security agencies and members of the general public.

Mr Nketia said the issuance of copies of the result sheets to representatives of all participating candidates and the ability of all stakeholders to transmit the polling station results directly and independently to their own collation centres also provided further protection against fraud.

He said Ghana had come a long way in its democratic experience and that the country's democratic credentials were admired the world over.

The NDC therefore, called on the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to learn the art of losing graciously in elections and not to resort to tainting the image of Ghana, the EC and other stakeholders in the electoral process.

Mr Nketia accused the leading opposition NPP of engaging in fabrications, frivolous arguments and unsubstantiated allegations, open falsehood and empty threats to achieve an obnoxious agenda.