The Electoral Commission (EC) has explained that the delays in printing the Notice of Poll for the upcoming December 7 general elections are due to errors in the spelling of names and issues related to some political party symbols.

In a statement issued on October 10, the EC announced that the printing of Notices of Poll for both the presidential and parliamentary elections would commence on Friday, October 11, 2024.

However, the actual printing of ballot papers will only begin after the Commission provides ballot statistics to all candidates, political parties, and printing houses.

Some political party representatives have raised concerns regarding the delay. Dr. Rashid Tanko Computer, Deputy Director of Elections for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), clarified that the NDC had no issues with the printing of the Notices of Poll, but expressed concerns over the printing of the ballot papers.

"We have no issues with the printing of the Notice of Polls, it's just the corrections, which we have just done. We just closed the meeting with them, and we have no issue. Our issues with them were about the printing of the ballot papers. Their initial letter indicated that they wanted to go ahead with the printing of the ballot papers, which we had issues with. We told them that could not be the case because you don't just print ballot papers without the voter registration document and the statistics therein before the printing can commence," Dr. Rashid Tanko explained.

Meanwhile, Sam Korankye, a disqualified presidential aspirant for the December 7 election, criticized the EC's decision to proceed with the printing process. He described it as a "slap in the face of democracy," accusing the Commission of acting unfairly.

"For them to go ahead and invite agents of various candidates regarding the printing of the ballot paper to the various printing houses is totally unfair and unacceptable. I don't think this is good for the Electoral Commission in terms of deepening democracy and building confidence of the people going forward to such a big election," Korankye stated.

He also hinted at potential legal action, possibly taking the matter to the Supreme Court. Korankye urged the EC to rectify the situation, adding, "Going ahead to print these ballot papers regardless of what is pending is totally unfair and a slap on the face of democracy."