Source: newsthemegh.com
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has declared its adamant objection to the decision made by the Electoral Commission (EC) to stop using indelible ink for the future Ghanaian presidential and legislative elections in 2024.
The party contends that there are still doubts about the voter register’s authenticity and that eliminating indelible ink will allow for fraud that would jeopardize the fairness of Ghana’s elections.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, stressed during a press conference in Accra that indelible ink is a crucial part of Ghana’s electoral process since it physically and visibly confirms votes in addition to the biometric verification mechanism.
He questioned the decision made by the Electoral Commission to do away with a verification technique that has been tried and true and increases the electoral process’s legitimacy.
Nketiah underlined the importance of permanent ink in avoiding duplicate votes, particularly in situations when there is indifference.
He said that the fastest and most reliable method of identifying prospective criminals trying to vote more than once in the event that the biometric verification devices (BVDs) malfunction is to look for an indelible ink stain on a voter’s finger.
Eliminating the ink would make it simpler for someone to rig the election, enabling compliant Election Commission employees to ignore the register and permit voters to cast ballots even if they are ineligible.
The Electoral Commission was reminded by the NDC of earlier incidents in which voting officials were detected tampering with the results of district-level elections.
The NDC thinks that the use of indelible ink is essential to preserving the legitimacy of Ghana’s elections because the manual verification method is still in use and the voter register’s integrity is under investigation.
The NDC’s resistance to the elimination of permanent ink raises questions about the impartiality and openness of Ghana’s voting process.
The future of indelible ink and its implications for voter verification and the prevention of fraudulent activities continue to be a point of contention between the Electoral Commission and the NDC as the 2024 elections get near.