Eligible voters in the Eastern and Western regions are taking their turn to vote today (December 5) in the special voting exercise meant for security agencies, officials of the Electoral Commission (EC), journalists and other persons who will be playing special roles in the December 7 general election.

The exercise will take place at 33 voting centres in the Eastern Region and 17 in the Western Region from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A total of 131,478 voters, representing 0.007 per cent of the total registered voters (18,741,159), are captured on the list of special voters by the EC.

Although the special voting took place across the country on Monday (December 2), it could not be held in the two regions following the recall of ballot papers for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

As explained by the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, during an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), the decision to recall the printed ballot papers was prompted by the detection of a broken seal on electoral materials in the Eastern Region.

In the case of the Western Region, there were no reported challenges with the ballot papers, but the EC suspended the special voting in the region as a precautionary measure because the printing press responsible for the Eastern Region ballots also handled those for the Western Region.

EC’s preparedness

Meanwhile, in an interview with Joy FM Mid-day News yesterday, which was monitored by the

 Daily Graphic, the Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, said the Commission was ready for the special voting exercise in the two regions.

Dr Asare said the necessary logistics for the election had already been dispatched to the respective regions.

“We expect that all those who are special voters in these two regions, regardless of where they are located now, will be able to make it to their special voting centres,” he said.

Again, he said adequate measures have been put in place to ensure a free, transparent and fair election.

“We had a meeting with the parties, and all of us are committed to the integrity of the process. The main conclusion from that meeting was about ensuring that the election will be very fair, free, transparent and embedded in integrity,” he added.

Caution

In a similar interview on Asempa FM’s Eko Sii Sen, the Director of Training at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, urged eligible persons on the special voters list in the two regions to go out and vote because they would not have the opportunity to do so on Saturday, December 7.

“If your name appears on the special voters list and you fail to go there to vote, bear in mind that you will not be able to vote because your name will be on the absent voters list,” he said.

He added that the temporary staff of the EC had been trained and well-conditioned to stick to the professional duties during the elections to guarantee its integrity.

Dr Quaicoe urged the agents of political parties to cooperate with the EC officials for the smooth conduct of the election.