Former Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has criticized the decision to cancel validly cast ballots in disputed areas instead of holding a rerun of the elections.
According to Dr Afari-Gyan, elections in contested areas should be rerun to ensure the will of the people is accurately reflected.
He emphasised that discarding valid ballots undermines the democratic process and is unacceptable.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Kumasi, the former EC chairperson reiterated that validly cast ballots should not be set aside in such cases.
“Another implication is that it is not acceptable to cancel out some validly cast ballots. In some places, sometimes called wasted votes.
“In Nigeria, there is a doctrine of wasted votes that is used and they throw away a lot of ballots and discarding. It is not the correct thing to do. When you cancel the ballots, you may be punishing some people for no offence whatsoever. They have not committed any offence.”
Dr Afari Gyan intimated that the “right thing to do is to rerun the election for the people to decide. The decision is the people’s decision.
“It is not the election officials’ decision. It is not the judge’s decision. The democratic election is the people who decide.”
