OPEN MORE POLLING STATIONS * For presidential run-off, Elections Task Force urges

Front Page: Daily Graphic, December 12, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE National Elections Security Task Force has suggested the opening of more polling stations to reduce the tension and conflict that are associated with elections in the country.
It noted that whereas some polling stations had between 500 and 600 voters, others catered for more than 1,000 voters.
Such high numbers, it said, often contributed to anxiety among voters to vote early and also accounted for the late close of polls at those stations.
The Chairman of the task force, Mr Patrick Acheampong, who is also the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), told newsmen in Accra yesterday that if the Electoral Commission (EC) opened more polling stations to accommodate fewer voters, voting would end early and the counting of votes would be made easier.
He said, for instance, that during his rounds at some polling stations during last Sunday’s polls, he realised that there were no voters in queue at some polling stations, while there were long queues at others even as of 3.00 p.m.
Mr Acheampong said the members of the task force were meeting to review aspects of the performance of the security agencies in the just-ended polls and to strategise for the run-off on December 28, 2008.
The IGP commended Ghanaians for comporting themselves and ensuring that the elections went on peacefully.
He said the media also deserved commendation for their role in bringing out the results as and when they obtained them, which helped to defuse tension among the public.
“Generally, those that came out were fair and they helped to reduce suspicion in people’s minds that someone could manipulate the results one way or another from the national, regional and district offices or, indeed, from the security services,” he added.
Mr Acheampong, however, took exception to reports on some FM radio stations that there had been no security officers at some polling stations just because the reporters did not see policemen or women there.
He said the police could certainly not be at every polling station because of their numbers and, as a result, the other sister security agencies supported in the exercise.
According to him, a patrol to those polling stations showed that there were security officers there and urged “the media to stop the notion that there is no security officer at a station simply because there is no police officer there”.
Mr Acheampong also observed that a number of press houses took on a large number of people who were not regular staff to record results at polling stations and transmitted them over the airwaves.
“It was noted that some were fumbling with either pronunciation or with actual figures; others announced the results according to the positions on the ballot paper, while some announced them beginning with the two big parties, which made it all the more confusing,” he said.
The IGP said another difficulty reporters had was differentiating among polling station results, provisional results, certified EC results and constituency results.
He said differentiating the results would ensure that there were consistencies in what the EC put out and pointed out that “what was going out caused stirs in certain areas when the official results were eventually released”.
Mr Acheampong, therefore, advised those media houses to train their people on how to report accurately to bring uniformity to their reportage on December 28.
He also appealed to voters to exercise patience when there were delays by officials of the EC and stressed that in situations such as elections delays were bound to occur.
In response to the question as to how security personnel would be posted to polling stations again should there be no special voting for them, Mr Acheampong said the task force was liaising with the EC to find an answer to that problem.
He, however, said since the December 28 elections would only be a presidential vote, an antidote could be found easily.