A former Ashanti regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah (COKA), has educated members of his party on how to vote properly ahead of December’s elections.
As Ghana goes to the polls in less than two weeks, there is a rising concern about votes that are rejected during the counting.
These votes usually amount to a high percentage of the vote cast, which has become a concern for both political parties and the Electoral Commission at large.
In this regard, Mr. Kwaku Appiah, during a final campaign tour of the Afigya Kwabre South constituency in the Ashanti Region took some constituents through proper voting to avoid their votes from being rejected.
“We cannot repeat the sins of yesterday. The increasing number of rejected ballots in our region alone over the last election years is way too much, and this year, this must be avoided,” he said.
“I want to use this opportunity to encourage our party people to continue door-to-door sensitization on this very topic, which hurts our votes in this region,” he added.
He further called on the electorates not to feel over-confident of a win, but to repeat the voting pattern during former President Kufuor’s era and give the NPP a resounding and convincing win.
“Voter apathy is exactly what we are preaching against. We need all hands-on deck. We cannot miss this opportunity. If you stay home, we regret the outcome of the election. Our loyalty to the party counts now more than ever,” he pleaded.
According to the Electoral Commission (EC), 34,858 ballots were rejected in the Presidential race of the 2020 general election in the Ashanti region.
The figure represents about 1.39 per cent of the 2,502,149 total votes cast in all the 47 constituencies.
By Benjamin Aidoo
