Police restore calm as Ashanti TESCON delegates protest over missing names

Voting for TESCON delegates in the Ashanti Region was delayed on Saturday night at the New Patriotic Party’s national delegates congress, after some delegates could not find their names in the Electoral Commission’s album.

Several TESCON members were left waiting to cast their ballots. Fearing they would be shut out of the process, they grew agitated and began chanting, “We are voting.”

The trouble started roughly five and a half hours after polls opened at about 6 p.m. on October 3.

JoyNews’ Nana Yaw Gyimah reported that police moved in to calm the situation while EC officials worked on a solution. The officers cordoned off the area and guided the delegates back into queues as their complaints were looked into.

Reports had suggested the album carrying the Ashanti TESCON delegates’ names was missing, but the National Coordinator of TESCON rejected that saying the album had been at the centre since morning.

“No, no, no. That’s never the case. It’s been here since morning,” he said when asked whether the album was missing.

According to him, Ashanti has 50 TESCON institutions, and their representatives were assigned to vote at one of three polling centres, labelled A, B and C.

He said the problem was that some delegates went to the wrong centre first.

“Our polling centres were three: A, B, C. So as to where exactly they were supposed to vote was the issue. They went to A and then they didn’t find their names. They came to B and they didn’t find their names and came to C to see their names.

“And now they are voting. That was the only challenge. And it’s been resolved that they are voting now,” he said.

He said all 50 representatives appear on the EC’s sub-album, so none would be denied a vote, and that voting had resumed.

“As I’m talking to you, you can see the voting processes have started. None of them will be disenfranchised. All the 50 people here, their names are captured on the EC sub-album. That is how come they’ve been allowed to be here,” he said.

Police have since restored order at the centre and voting is continuing. At some other polling centres, voting has closed and officials have started counting ballots.