The Electoral Commission (EC) has delivered parliamentary ballot papers to the Greater Accra Region (GAR), marking a significant step in the preparations for Ghana’s December 7 elections.
The transfer, which began on Thursday, November 14, was overseen by EC officials and monitored closely by representatives from major political parties to ensure a transparent process.
Gladys Pinkrah, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, confirmed the safe arrival of the ballot papers at the Regional Police headquarters, where they will be securely stored until election day.
According to Ms. Pinkrah, the region is now waiting to receive presidential ballot papers, which will follow in a similar, carefully coordinated process.
“We have gotten all the required quantities of ballot papers, and so far, everything has been successful,” Ms. Pinkrah said. “From here, we’ll keep them securely at the police command until next week, when we receive the presidential ballot papers for further distribution to district-level police commands.”
The transparency of the transfer process was reinforced by the presence of party agents from both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who confirmed that every ballot paper was checked against the corresponding serial numbers to avoid discrepancies. Each ballot bag was sealed with unique, color-coded seals to prevent tampering, with the NPP and NDC each assigned distinct seal colors.
An NPP constituency executive who was present during the transfer said, “We assisted the EC in cross-checking, re-bagging, and resealing everything. Every ballot paper was verified according to serial numbers, so we’re confident that no tampering will occur.”
Similarly, an NDC representative expressed satisfaction with the process, adding that the use of distinctive seals for each party and the EC would make unauthorized access exceedingly difficult. “With these seals, it would be practically impossible for anyone to interfere with the bags without leaving visible signs,” he explained.
This initial distribution marks the beginning of the EC’s nationwide ballot paper transfer. After Greater Accra, Central, Western, Savannah, and Upper West Regions will receive their parliamentary ballots on Friday, November 15, with other regions following through the weekend.
