The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed reports that it printed a wrong logo for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the parliamentary ballot sheets.

A statement by the Commission Monday signed by Eric Dzakpasu said it worked closely with representatives of the various political parties on the acceptable logo before printing them on the Notice of Polls and ballot sheets.

“For the Parliamentary Notice of Polls and Ballot Sheets, the New Patriotic Party specifically indicated their satisfaction with the logo as processed for printing,” the statement said.

NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako has refused to accept the parliamentary ballot printed by the EC citing the absence of the party’s abbreviation.

A copy of the parliamentary ballot in the Ashanti Region showing NPP logo

He said apart from the logo, there should have been an indication as was provided for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and Convention People’s Party (CPP).

This has generated debate between NPP Ashanti Regional functionaries and EC officials in the Region.

Mr Boasiako is blaming the EC of deliberately eliminating the abbreviation of the party in order to confuse voters in the Region who are known to be supporters of NPP.

Copy of NPP letterhead without the abbreviation

But the EC said the claim that it committed an error in the design and printing of the NPP logo is inaccurate.

“During the printing process, not only did the party have its representatives at the printing houses at all material times, high-ranking officers of the party visited the printing houses regularly to monitor the process,” it said.

Copy of NPP letterhead without the abbreviation

“At no point did they raise any objections about the NPP’s logo as it was being printed,” it continued.

The Commission has provided two copies of letters written to it by the NPP which did have the party's abbreviation to prove its position.

 

Read full statement below:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Monday, November 14, 2016]

CLARIFICATION: POLITICAL PARTY LOGO ON BALLOT SHEETS

The Commission’s attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media suggesting that the Commission had printed a ‘wrong logo’ for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the Parliamentary ballot sheets. We would like to place on the records that the claim is entirely inaccurate.

Below are the facts:

All Political Parties participating in this year’s elections worked closely with the Commission’s Directorate of Electoral Services to agree on the acceptable logo for their parties to be printed on the Notice of Polls and the ballots sheets.

For the Parliamentary Notice of Polls and Ballot Sheets, the New Patriotic Party specifically indicated their satisfaction with the logo as processed for printing.

During the printing process, not only did the party have its representatives at the printing houses at all material times, high-ranking officers of the party visited the printing houses regularly to monitor the process. At no point did they raise any objections about the NPP’s logo as it was being printed.

For the avoidance of doubt, we have added the NPP’s official logo as it appears on the party’s letterheads. It is clear from the pictures that the party uses these two versions of their logo interchangeably. Both do not include the party’s acronym as now being claimed

We would like to further place on the record that it is only for the Presidential Ballot that the NPP has specifically requested that its acronym should be added to the logo, and that has been done.

Therefore, it cannot be accurate that the Commission committed any design or printing errors as being speculated or claimed.

Thank you.

Signed:

ERIC KOFI DZAKPASU

Head of Communications