The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Adukwei Mensa, has debunked rumours that the commission will print duplicate pink sheets for the December 7 elections.
Her comment comes after the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, raised concerns about the EC’s alleged decision to print extra pink sheets for the electoral process.
Mrs Mensa was in Parliament on Friday, July 19, to brief the House on preparations for the December 7 polls.
“We are hearing that there will be pink sheets available where others can have the opportunity to fill it out and can be used as a pink sheet different from what has been signed. We will want to know, what security measures are you putting in place for us to be aware or see that pink sheets are dedicated to polling stations and that no other person can have access to pink sheets that are other than what has been assigned and all unused pink sheets are accounted for, so that the pink sheet will not fall in the hands of people who are not supposed to have them?” Mr Ato Forson requested.
In response, the EC said the claims were false and assured the legislators that the commission would not print excess pink sheets.
“There is no intention to print duplicate pink sheets. The pink sheets themselves are carbonised and usually, we print up to the number of persons on the ballot. Again what you write at the top goes all the way to the last page so there is nothing like using some pink sheets and not using some.
“We do not print it in excess so again I would like to assure you that there will be no duplicate pink sheets printed,” Mrs Mensa clarified.
The chairperson also assured the public the election management body would maintain transparency in the December elections.
“From the registration to the declaration, our processes are embedded with one key ingredient, and that is transparency, transparency, transparency. As such we will continue to operate in the spirit of transparency, fairness and integrity as embedded in our motto,” she said.
She reiterated that all necessary measures are being implemented to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.