EC fixes October 19 for balloting positions for flagbearers

Balloting for positions on the Election 2012 ballot paper is slated for Friday, October 19th, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, stated in Accra on Wednesday.

He said political parties whose flagbearers would successfully complete the electoral process for filing nomination papers on October 17 and 18 would qualify to participate in the balloting.

Dr Afari-Gyan later explained to the Ghana News Agency that there would be two ballots – one prior to the actual ballot would allow political parties to pick a number which would indicate when they would pick for their actual positions on the ballot paper.

That, he explained, would allow the parties to have fair opportunity to pick their positions on the ballot paper.

Balloting for positions on the ballot paper is keenly anticipated, since political parties use their positions on the ballot paper to coin attractive political slogans to attract more votes.

In 2000, for instance, balloting and sloganeering became a tool for campaign when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) found itself at the bottom of the ballot paper and coined the slogan “Asee Ho” (at the bottom).

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), which occupied the second position on the paper, came up with “Esoro ho” (at the top). Those developments generated intense interest in the political campaign.

Dr Afari-Gyan said independent candidates would not engage in the balloting because they automatically would follow the political parties on the ballot paper.

“If there are more than one independent candidate, the EC will use the alphabetical order to position them,” he said.

The EC Chairman said ballot positions picked by the political parties at the national level would be replicated at the constituency levels.

He said the exercise would start at 10.00 a.m. and presidential candidates had the option to be there in person or delegate their representatives.

Source: GNA