Suspicious videos of alleged rigging of the referenda held for the creation of new regions on Thursday flooded social media.
It’s unclear the enclave where this particular video emerged, however the alleged video captures a man thumb printing multiple ballot papers while the exercise was ongoing yesterday.
Many have questioned the credibility of the exercise in some areas where the said videos popped up yesterday, but the EC has been tight lipped on any reaction to the alleged rigging videos.
Reports say there were overwhelming votes largely to endorse the 6 new proposed regions in the historic referendum.
All six of the proposed regions have provisionally met the constitutional threshold to become fully fledged legally recognized regions.
Ghana will now have sixteen regions instead of the ten regions before the referendum.
The new regions are Bono East, Savannah, Western North, North East (YES. 99.8 percent), Ahafo ( YES – 99.67 percent) and Oti Regions.
About two million voters cast their vote overwhelmingly for the creation of the six new regions in Thursday’s historic referendum.
The constitution requires that at least 50% of the electorate show up for the election out of which 80% must vote YES to have the region created.
The reorganisation of the regions is a demand by members of the Volta, Oti; Brong Ahafo, Ahafo and Bono East; Northern, Savannah and North East and Western Regions, Western North, mostly aligned by article 5 of the 1992 constitution which imposed strict requirement on the creation of new regions, alteration of boundaries or the merger of two or more regions.
On August 15, 2017, the Council of State advised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to appoint a Commission of Enquiry to look into the need to create six regions and make recommendations on all factors involved in the creation of the regions.
The commission, chaired by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice S. A. Brobbey, was established pursuant to Article 5 of the 1992 Constitution and CI 105 and commenced work on November 21, 2017.
On June 27, 2018, it presented its report to President Akufo-Addo and recommended the creation of six new regions. The commission also recommended to the President that the referendum be limited to the proposed regions.
