The Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted claims that it is secretly printing ballot papers beyond the agreed quantities for the upcoming 2024 general election. Deputy EC Chairperson Dr. Bossman Asare, addressing these allegations during a media tour of printing facilities, dismissed such suggestions as false.

Dr. Asare clarified that the EC has maintained transparency by sharing ballot statistics with all political parties and candidates. The exact quantities allocated for each region and constituency are predetermined and thoroughly documented.

Additionally, he emphasized that representatives from all political parties are present during the counting and sealing processes, ensuring accountability and preventing any potential discrepancies.

“This is the particular number going to this region, this is the particular number going to this constituency, so if you hear anywhere that the Electoral Commission has printed more than the necessary ballots, that’s a complete lie, because the parties are aware, they know the ballot statistics for each region, for each constituency, and in this year’s election, what the Commission said is that we are giving each constituency an increase of two percent, and that’s what we are printing.

“So if you hear anywhere that oh the EC has printed excess of 2,000, 3,000 it’s not true. The parties are here and the party agents themselves can testify that indeed the numbers the EC has given to the parties, that’s what we are printing, that’s what the printing houses are printing, and that’s what EC officials are also checking, the parties are also checking.

“And as I indicated, when we finish, all the ballots for each constituency, as far as each region is concerned, will be bagged, and the parties are going to have their seals on the bags; the EC is also going to have its seals on the bags. So everything is very, very transparent.”

The Electoral Commission's denial follows an allegation made by Richard Dzakpa, supervisor of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) agents, who claimed that the printing firms assigned to produce ballots for the Ashanti and Eastern regions—strongholds of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)—as well as the Savannah and North East regions, where presidential candidates John Mahama and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia hail from, were printing an extra 3,000 ballots per constituency. Dzakpa suggested that this could indicate a hidden agenda.

“It’s too much of a coincidence to have their two strongholds, and where the two flagbearers come from, printing in excess of 3,000 per constituency as internal printing house operational losses,” he alleged.