Former Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has called for stiffer punishment for individuals who commit electoral offences, especially when they are electoral officials.
He emphasised that individuals who commit such offences must not be allowed to go scot-free, particularly when they should know better.
Speaking at a forum on the sidelines of the Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Kumasi on Tuesday, Dr Gyan noted, “Because the persons who vote decide the winner in a democratic election, the voter is preeminent and a valid vote is inviolable for purposes of determining the will or the choices of the people.”
“One implication of this is that persons who commit serious election offences, particularly if they are professional election officials or electronic experts, must be severely punished for attempting to undermine the will of the people. Possibly a treasonable act.”
Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan also 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.
According to the former EC chairperson, 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.”
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