The Electoral Commission (EC) has rescheduled the special voting for Eastern and Western Regions to Thursday, December 5, 2024.
Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa at a press briefing on Sunday, December 1, 2024 announced that the decision was taken after a single defaced ballot paper meant for the Presidential election for the Eastern Region was leaked out of the printing house.
However, the special voting which is scheduled for Monday, December 2 will take place in other regions.
“The special voting for Eastern and Western Regions will not take place on Monday, December 2 as planned. It will now take place on Thursday, December 5,” Jean Mensa said.
According to the EC, the defaced ballot paper although had been earmarked for destruction by the company, “it found it way out of the printing house.”
“The commission was informed by the National Security that one single defaced ballot paper meant for the Presidential election for the Eastern Region had been taken out of the printing house.
“The printing was undertaken by Rocheck Limited and supervised and observed by the National Investigation Bureau, the National Security as well as the agents of the political parties and EC staff,” she added.
The Commission has since decided to recall ballot papers for the Eastern Region and reprint them.
For the Western Region, the ballot papers have also been recalled for a reprint because it was the same printing house, Rocheck Limited that printed ballot papers for the Eastern Region.
The Commission together with the parties have since agreed for ballot papers of both regions to be reprinted.
The Commission said three printing houses have been engaged to reprint the ballot papers for the two regions and information will be provided to the various political parties.
“The commission is of the view that as part of its efforts to remain transparent it was important to inform the political parties about the leakage of this single ballot paper for the presidential in the Eastern Region,” Jean Mensa said.