Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey has stated that his party is not against the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to implement the Supreme Court ruling of March 2010 which gives prisoners the opportunity to vote in next year’s general elections. According to him, the party’s concern is with what appears to be government taking decisions for the Commission. Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, in an interview on Joy FM on Wednesday, confirmed that prisoners would be allowed to vote in the 2012 general elections. His comments came on the back of the President stating his commitment to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Speaking on Adom TV’s BADWAM program on Multi TV, Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey stated categorically that the NPP was not against the EC’s stance on the issue, adding that it was a constitutional right granted the prisoners to vote. He however argued that it is not up to government to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter. “It is the decision of the Electoral Commission” he argued. “If you take a look at their stance on the biometric registration with verification that the NPP is calling for, one will think they (government) are the EC and now with the President calling for the implementation of the process that will enable prisoners to vote – that is entirely the EC’s duty, not government” he added. The NPP’s chairman however expressed regret at the fact that the EC did not call for an IPAC meeting to discuss the implications of allowing prisoners to vote. “If we had been having IPAC meeting with the EC at a better level, I’m sure this would have come up at IPAC as to how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling because we would want to know whether the prisoners fit into the constituency, whether their votes are counted within the constituency they are temporarily resident, that is the prison, or their votes will be counted at their permanent constituency. These are things that should be discussed with all the political parties” he stressed. He was however hopeful that the NPP will achieve a resounding success in next year’s elections indicating that “the NPP is the largest party in the country and will transform that into votes”.