"Produce Evidence", Afari Djan Charges NDC

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari Djan has challenged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to produce evidence to show that the voter register is bloated. He said that although the commission gave a CD-ROM to the NDC, the figures being bandied around by the NDC were questionable. The electoral commissioner asked the party to bring the CD-ROM for verification. He said the figures given to the NDC at Tuesday’s IPAC meeting were the authentic figures in the commission's database. “I have given them the authentic figures. If they want to quarrel with the figures they should go and bring evidence,” he charged. The NDC has been quoting figures they claim are contained in a CD-ROM given them by the EC. The figures show astronomical increases in voter population in some 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region. In the Ejisu Juaben constituency for example, the EC’s document puts the voter population at about 78, 000 since the year 2006. But the NDC’s document supposedly obtained from the EC quotes 155, 000 as the number of voters representing 112.2 per cent increase in the figure. But the EC is contesting these figures. The National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Lord Comey urged the EC to properly investigate the matter and put all doubts to rest. He said the NPP was concerned because the NDC had been making frantic efforts to create the impression that the NPP was bent on rigging this year’s elections. The General Secretary of the NDC said a sheet of paper given them by the EC supposedly containing the authentic figures was not convincing. He said the EC must show whether there was a genuine mistake that led to the discrepancies or whether someone had been misleading them.