3pm end of polls proposal: It’s early days yet – NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has reiterated calls for the electoral management body, the Electoral Commission (EC), to ensure that the 2024 general elections are devoid of rigging.

During an interview on Eyewitness News, Mustapha Gbande, the Deputy National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), warned that they will resist any attempts by the EC to rig the election in favour of another political party.

Commenting on the EC’s proposed 3 pm closing time for the 2024 polls, Mustapha Gbande stated that it’s early days yet for the party to make commentary on the EC’s position.

“For us, we welcome a response that will give Ghanaians a feeling that there’s a credible, transparent general election at the end of the day. We have resolved as a party that we are going into 2024 with full force, we are going to an election to win. Rigging that election is a great impossibility and will be resisted with all force, so it behoves on the EC to assure all political parties of a transparent election.”

He added, “That will be a big relief for this country. It’s early days yet; we will see as the conversation unfolds what our technical directors will advise the party to do, what the NPP will come up with, and what other parties will come up with.”

He said the NDC is ready to return to IPAC if the EC engages in consensus-building and does not turn it into a debate forum.

“Then at the end of the day, what we are advocating for again comes back to the table that EC must make IPAC a consensus-building forum, and not a debate forum. If we can cross that bridge, I believe there’s hope for this country. We have a condition that must be fulfilled, and that condition is that if only the EC can make IPAC a consensus-building body, then we will come, if not, we won’t, then there’s no point coming there,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said the party will rejoin IPAC.

The Electoral Commission has justified the decision to shift the closing time of voting from 5:00 pm to 3:00 pm during the upcoming 2024 general elections.

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.