Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has announced plans to destroy ballot papers with errors that have not yet been distributed to the Volta and Ahafo Regions.

This decision follows the discovery of discrepancies in the serialisation of the ballots, which led to the need for reprinting the papers for these regions.

The update was provided during the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Friday, November 15.

In a statement issued on November 16, the EC confirmed that representatives from political parties will be present to observe the destruction of the faulty ballots.

A Destruction Certificate will be issued and signed by the observers as part of the process.

“The re-printing of the ballot papers for Ahafo and Volta Regions will be undertaken by Buck Press and Acts Commercials, respectively. As has always been the case, the affected ballot papers will be shredded and incinerated (burned).

Both activities will be witnessed by agents of the political parties, and a Destruction Certificate will be issued and signed by them.”

The Electoral Commission (EC) explained that the automated system intended to ensure correct serial numbers had flaws, leading the Printing House to adopt a manual process to rectify these issues.

However, the Commission emphasised that the manual system used by the Printing House was unreliable and could not be trusted to provide accurate serialisation of the ballots.

“Upon further assessment, the Commission decided that the manual system was not foolproof and could therefore not be relied upon to produce an accurate serialisation of the ballots.

In light of the above, the Commission decided to reprint the ballot papers and informed the Political Parties at an Emergency IPAC Meeting on Friday, 15th November 2024.”