Observers have no right to obstruct electoral process – EC
An official of the Electoral Commission in has advised members of the various political parties not to allow partisan politics to divide them to the point of being enemies because Ghanaians are one people with a common destiny.
He said it was about time the national development agenda was considered paramount to all other personal and political interests to help push the developmental process forward for posterity.
Mr Anthony Nyame, the Cape Coast Metro Electoral Officer, gave the advice at the Cape Coast Metro Inter Party Dialogue Committee, made up of the representatives of the various political parties, the media, security, religious bodies and other civil society organizations.
He appealed to the political parties to work to promote peace in the Metropolis and ensure that their members eschew any form of political violence during and after the elections in December.
Explaining what was expected from the parties by the Electoral Commission, Mr Nyame asked that each party submit the names of its polling station agents to the Commission on time for them to be given the requisite training to be equipped with the dos and don’ts at the polling stations.
He said the EC will reject untrained agents thus the parties should do well to submit the names for training adding that electoral observers are only to watch the electoral process and make notes on anything they are not in agreement with and not to disrupt voting during misunderstandings at the polling stations.
He said it was wrong for observers including party agents to disrupt the process by preventing people from voting because of alleged challenges raised during elections.
Mr Nyame also warned that it was a criminal offence for nominated Parliamentary Candidates to use the names of people as their guarantors on their documents without consulting them and indicated that the EC will disqualify such people when caught.
He urged all candidates to do the right thing to avoid being disqualified parties should also ensure that their agents were trained by the EC to facilitate smooth transparent and incident free elections.
The Metro Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Nana John Arhin, explained the Political Parties’ Code of Conduct, the working document of the Inter Party Committee to members and urged them to be conversant with it for effective implementation.
He reiterated calls for transparent and incident free elections to help the maintenance of continued peace in the country.
Source: GNA