Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei says the commission will recruit 275 non-partisan professionals to collate results in the 2016 general elections in November.

Names of selected professionals will be published at the district offices for public screening to determine their non-partisanship after the Electoral commission has done its own internal screening to determine same.

She said the Commssion has received letters from the Ghana Bar Association and Chartered Accountants expressing interest in participating in the process.

“This is going to be voluntary work…for God and country” she said on the 2016 edition of news analysis program, Newsfile on Multi TV and Joy FM Saturday.

The new introduction is part of reforms contained in recommendations written by some Supreme Court Justices after the 2012 presidential elections landed in court. The court said " the caliber of the presiding officers must be greatly raised".

The inclusion of professionals on D-Day of the elections also follows the Nigerian example where academia played in key role in ensuring the process was free and fair.

Ms. Charlotte Osei also noted the commission will recruit 145,000 Ghanaians as presiding officers and election officials who will be spread across 29,000 polling stations.

The Commission is also considering the use of online services as a more effective way to recruit officials.

 

Pink sheets to be simplified

There has been mounting pressure on the Commission from various political parties especially the New Patriotic Party keen to see reforms ahead of 2016 elections.

Reforms have preceded every major election in Ghana since 1992. Cataloguing 2016 improvements, Charlotte Osei noted the document used to record election results will also be simplified.

Popularized as the ‘pink sheet’ by NPP Vice-Presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Electoral Commissioner said it will try to simply but retain important aspects of the document.

“It is a legal document and so you must make sure we don’t lose essential elements” she pointed out.

The Supreme Court during the 2013 hearing to determine the winner of the 2012 presidential elections, expressed concerns about the security features of the pink sheet and asked that the features be enhanced so that it can be traceable to each polling stations.

The Commission has welcomed the suggestion saying "we are serially numbering them and simplifying them".

 

Special voting

Charlotte Osei also announced that unlike the previous elections, there will be special voting for professionals in essential services such as security officers and journalists.

It became acceptable practice for top executives of political parties, security personnel, media practitioners, staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) to cast their ballot before the date of the general elections.

The special voting exercise is meant to give the special categories to chance to play crucial role on election day.

In November 2012, journalists were shocked to find they were not included in the list and had to struggle to vote before going about their duties on election day.

Principal Public Relations Officer for the EC, Mrs. Sylvia Annor then explained;

“There are several changes in the electioneering processes. The new law being used, CI 72 indicates that anybody who wants to take part in the early voting, you must be an official of the Electoral Commission or a security personnel whose services will be required on Election Day. Even that you have to write an application to the EC 42 days before elections…”

Speaking to the issue ahead of the 2016 elections, the Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei explained that the media were excluded from special voting because the Constitutional Instrument passed, did not cater for the media and other essential services. It catered for security officers.

The Commissioner explained that although the CI was drafted with the contributions from other political parties, journalists were not added to the list.

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