Claim: Henry Nana Boakye claims that the various presidential candidates will be voted for on separate voting days.
Verdict: False. Article 46 of the Constitution of Ghana mandates the Electoral Commission of Ghana to organise presidential and parliamentary elections, and the Commission, through its Constitutional Instruments, has declared that both Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held on Dec. 7, 2024.
Full Text
Ghana has less than three days to go to the polls. Political campaigns have intensified. As Political figures and leaders try to convince voters to support their candidates, electoral misinformation and disinformation are not left out.
In a viral video, Henry Nana Boakye, the NPP’s national organiser, asserted that the various presidential candidates will have separate voting days.
“So please, John Mahama is not part of the voting on the 7th,” he asserted in Twi on a radio program on Wontumi FM, as posted here on X.
Similarly, another individual on the same platform asserted that the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has planned to conduct the election for the first seven candidates on the ballot paper on Dec. 7, while the other candidates will be voted for on different days.
“Because there are many people, the election has been divided into two: we are voting for some people, and then we will vote for others later. We are voting for the first seven candidates first.
“So this is the arrangement: we are voting for the number one on the ballot, Dr Bawumia, on 7th Dec., at 7 am before the others. We may vote for the others the following days,” he asserted on Wontumi Television.
Party communicators of the NPP have propagated a similar narrative on the same media platform. Find here.
Such videos with these narratives have the potential to misinform and disinform, as well as disenfranchise social media users who may believe it. DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim.
Verification
It is necessary to establish what the Ghanaian electoral laws posit regarding voting days. Under Article 45(c) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the EC is the only institution to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda.
This is corroborated by Article 51, which empowers the EC to make regulations to ensure they undertake their functions effectively.
The EC made the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 C. I 127, to regulate the conduct of elections in 2020 and beyond until it is revoked.
Regulation 4 (1) of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 C. I. 127 states,
“For the purpose of a public election, the commission shall issue a writ of elections to the returning officer.”
“The writ shall be set out in Form One A and Form One E of the schedule and shall specify (a) the period and place for the nomination of candidates; and (b) the day on which the poll is to be taken,” sub-regulation 2 of the regulation 4 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127) states.
In an official EC presser on Nov 24, 202, the commission reiterated that the date set out for the election 2024 is Dec. 7.
“Voters are reminded that voting on the 7th of December 2024 starts from 7 am until 5 pm,” the presser stated.
Conclusion
Article 45 (C) states that the EC is the only institution mandated to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda.
The EC has stated emphatically that elections in 2024 will be held on Dec. 7 from 7 am to 5 pm. The narrative that the various candidates will have different voting days is false.
Source: Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition