Ballot Papers Printed by 2nd Respondent The petitioners also mentioned the failure of the Electoral Commission to account for over 307,000 ballot papers per the breakdown provided by the EC Chairman during the trial. This together with the evidence on the face of the pink sheets being relied upon by the petitioners which shows that an extremely large number were printed relative to the registered voters provided the means for irregularities and various violations. Below is an Extract on the Unaccounted Ballot Papers in the Address of the Petitioners The Chairman of the 2nd respondent denied the petitioners claim that the ballots printed for the 2012 elections were some 100% more than the total number of registered voters, way above the 10% margin that was communicated by the 2nd respondent to the NPP and other political parties. Dr. Afari Gyan maintained that the total number of ballots printed for the election was 15,434,968. This was captured in the record of the proceedings on the 11th of June 2013, at pages 3 to 5. During cross-examination by counsel for the petitioners, Dr. Afari-Gyan provided a breakdown of the ballots printed as follows: Booklets of 100 ballots – 141,597 = 14,159,700 Booklets of 50 ballots – 12,627 = 631,350 Booklets of 25 ballots – 38,041 = 951,025 It is clear that the evidence of Dr. Afari Gyan on this issue was not truthful. This is because if one adds up the total number of ballots printed from the breakdown he provided, it amounts to 15,742,075. This figure is 307,107 higher than the 15,434,968 number he provided as the total ballots printed. In an election where the margin of difference is in the region of 320,000, Dr Afari-Gyan‟s inability to account for 307,107 ballots is very significant. The pink sheets in evidence also support the petitioners‟ claim that an inordinately large number of ballots were printed relative to the number of registered voters in the 10,119 polling stations in contention. Summing up the ballots issued to the polling stations in column A1 of the pink sheets which petitioners are relying on results in a total number of 10,245,680. This means that if the 2nd respondent printed 15,434,968 ballots as they claim, then they only had a balance of 5,189,288 ballots for the remaining 15,883 polling stations. This would be clearly insufficient. The evidence provided by Dr. Afari Gyan is therefore not credible. As was the case with the voters register, the 2nd respondent was unable to provide consistent figures on the number of ballots printed for the 2012 presidential election. An inordinately large number of ballots relative to registered voters provides the opportunity for violations, malpractices and irregularities such as over-voting, and voting without biometric verification.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 19:29:47 +0000
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