The Afigya Kwabre Constituency Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP) Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, has called on the Electoral Commission to either consider early counting of results of special voting or allow political parties the chance to protect the ballots.

According to the NPP Chairman, in order to avoid any potential conflicts, the EC must either declare results of the early voters to parties to enable them to have a stake in the way the ballots are protected until the final counting.

The NPP Constituency Chairman is therefore calling on the Electoral Commission to collaborate with the Ghana Police Service to ensure that agents of all the political parties participating in the elections would have the opportunity to protect the ballots whilst they are being kept at the various police stations across the country.

The move, according to Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, will help avoid any suspicion of electoral manipulations.

Addressing supporters of the party at the official launch of campaign for the Constituency Women's Wing at Atimatim, the NPP Constituency Chairman lamented that the seven day period between the special voting and the general polls was too long, stressing that the gap could be an avenue for electoral manipulations.

Odeneho Appiah said unlike the previous cases where there was only one day interval between the two exercises, the current arrangement whereby the ballots boxes would be kept at police stations for one whole week before being opened for counting is not the best.

The EC has indicated in the Constitutional Instruments guiding this year's polls that members of the security, the media and electoral officers who form the category of early voters would cast their ballots on November 30, seven clear days before the December 7 general elections.

The usual move is to protect the integrity of the security and electoral officers manning the polls and to allow them the opportunity to perform their roles effectively on the voting day.

But the NPP Constituency Chairman contends that there is nothing wrong if the results of the early voters were declared since that will not in any way determine the political affiliation s of individual personnel.

He said unless the votes were counted or parties would be given access to its protection, it will be very difficult for anyone to trust the results.

The Afigya Kwabre NPP Chairman suggested that in case the results are not counted early, then all parties must be allowed to padlock the rooms where the ballots boxes would be kept in order to ensure its safety.

"In that case no one can unilaterally enter the rooms to cause any mischief," He noted, stressing that party agents can then protect the ballots for the seven day period whilst they are at the police stations.

"I am not suggesting that the security cannot be trusted but this is a crucial election and we are running a system where the President is the Commander-in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and also in charge of all security matters in the country," He insinuated.

Meanwhile, the NPP chairman has also already sent notices that he would pitch camp at the police station where his constituency. Special Voting results would be kept from the November 30 up to the December 7.

Source: Peacefmonline.com