The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party has increased the workload of its polling station election committees ahead of upcoming internal elections, as part of efforts to streamline the process.

The move will see each committee now supervising 25 polling stations, up from the initial 10.

Speaking to the media after an emergency NEC meeting at the party’s headquarters, Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah said the change is a minor adjustment aimed at improving efficiency.

“It was an emergency meeting, and largely discussions focused on the membership registration… and preparation for polling station elections as well,” he said.

He explained that the decision followed feedback on earlier guidelines.

“Initially, we were saying… a particular polling station election committee will supervise 10 polling stations, but we have increased that number now to 25 so that we can bring down the number of election committees.”

According to him, the adjustment is not a major shift in policy.

“They are not major changes but minor changes specifically to the polling station election committees… we are trying to reduce the number of committees by increasing the number of polling stations that the committees are supposed to supervise.”

The NEC also upheld its earlier decision to bar members who registered online but failed to validate their details at polling stations from participating in the elections.

“NEC actually maintained what the directive was. So, if you registered online and were not able to go and verify as directed, then that situation maintains that you cannot vote and be voted for,” Mr Ahiagbah stated.

When asked whether affected members would be given another opportunity to validate their details, he said. “No, no.”

He said that timelines for the process had already closed.

“These timelines are a big deal at this point. So, there’s no opportunity.”

However, he indicated that discussions are ongoing on how to reconcile the online and physical registers.

“What conversation is going on is how… we ensure that people who registered online can be vouched for at the polling station,” he said, adding that there could be a register exhibition exercise at polling stations.