Mahama expresses worry over hitches being reported at polling stations

The presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama has expressed worry over hitches that have been recorded in some of the polling stations during the election.

Interacting with the media after casting his ballot in the Northern Region, Mr Mahama observed that some voters names were removed from the register and as a result have been disenfranchised.

He disclosed that one of his security detail and a lady he encountered at his polling station were unable to vote.

Mr Mahama said the two were left frustrated after the election officials told them their names cannot be found in the new electoral roll.

The former President stated that this vindicates the NDC kicking against the Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new voters’ register.

“These [names missing from the roll and the breakdown of some machines] are some of the little things we kept complaining about. I mean the EC said it has eliminated 30,000 names, without saying whose names they were.

“So now, we stand vindicated because these are issues we were warning the EC about, that on the day the verification machines might not work because they failed to deploy and test them during the exhibition,” he said.

The NDC leader, however, added that it was too early to generalise and react to the issue, therefore, he will reserve his comment until the whole electoral process is over.

Meanwhile, Mr Mahama is optimistic that the whole electoral process will be carried out smoothly, devoid of violence and intimidation.

“I hope that the atmosphere we saw here will be the same everywhere in the country and if that happens that means voting will go smoothly and I hope that the same applies to the counting and collation.”