EC seeks protection as voter transfer turns violent

The pockets of violence recorded in some centres across the country have necessitated the need for officials of the Electoral Commission to call for police protection. Mr. Yussif A. Ayuba, deputy Communications Director at the EC, told Kwakye Afreh Nuamah on 3FM Midday News that the EC is taking the acts of violence “seriously”.

The commission on Friday 9th September 2016 began accepting applications for transfer of votes from one constituency to another for the 2016 general elections. The exercise will end on Friday, 7th October 2016.

The EC had not anticipated that the exercise would be violent, Mr. Ayuba said, adding that the police have been asked to intensify patrols at the centres. Several centres have been peaceful since the exercise started but the EC says it is not giving chance to any threat on its officials, equipment and potential voters.

The deputy Communications Director said EC officials have been told to promptly get police protection when they have “security concerns”.

Eligibility Challenge Yussif Ayuba was emphatic that political parties have no right to challenge the eligibility of persons who wish to transfer their votes. Whether a person can be allowed to move his votes to a different constituency is a prerogative reserved for the electoral body.

He said the political parties have been told “you cannot challenge somebody’s eligibility; it is only the EC”. He stressed, “We have told them categorically that it is based on law that if you qualify for your vote to be transferred, the commission will transfer your vote for you.

We don’t understand why if somebody doesn’t qualify for his or her vote to be transferred, they want us to transfer their vote for them.”