3pm end of polls proposal: Voters must not be disenfranchised – NPP cautions

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that the Electoral Commission (EC) must assure Ghanaians that its 3pm end of polls proposal for the 2024 elections will not disenfranchise voters.

The EC earlier justified the decision to shift the closing time of voting from 5:00 pm to 3:00 pm during the upcoming election.

The EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, emphasized that this adjustment aims to facilitate the transparent and orderly collation of votes by electoral officers in broad daylight.

Addressing participants at an inter-party dialogue and stock-taking conference organized by the National Peace Council in Accra on Thursday, December 14, Mrs. Mensa highlighted that the proposal is grounded in the lessons learned from the 2020 elections, where approximately 70 percent of voting centres witnessed minimal activity by 1:00 pm.

Speaking in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Thursday, the Director of Communications of the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, indicated that the party would accept the proposal only if the commission assured them that electorates would be given the comfort they deserved and that none would be turned away.

“We receive that with some cautious optimism, to the extent that the EC can provide us with the necessary comfort that electorates would not be found wanting on the day of the election. But assuming that they provide that comfort for us, it is ideal for us to be able to close the polls early so that collation and things that need to be done to prepare results are done in daylight before dark.”

“So I think that is the import of that proposal that we first need to be sure that it will not result in people being turned away,” he stated.

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