Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has reassured the Electoral Commission (EC) that the drones the party plans to deploy for monitoring the upcoming general election will not compromise voters’ privacy.
The Electoral Commission has expressed concerns, stating that such a move could invade voters’ electoral privacy and violate security protocols. However, Gbande insists that the drones will strictly adhere to electoral rules, flying outside the voting perimeter.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Election Brief on March 12, he emphasized that the party aims to contribute to free and fair elections without infringing on voters’ rights.
“My assurance to the Electoral Commission is that the drone strategy in the Greater Accra region will not include the voting and polling station perimeters, where nobody is supposed to walk or move within.
“When you go to a voting centre or a polling station, there is a certain perimeter that is cordoned that no one is supposed to move.
“The purposes of having that perimeter is for the safety of the voter and then the assurance of secrecy of the voting process. They can be rest assured that it will not affect the perimeter of voting,” he said.
Mr. Gbande emphasized that the party’s preparations are based on lessons learned from the 2020 elections. He stated that in the upcoming polls, drones will be utilized to detect any electoral misconduct, reflecting the party’s commitment to improving the electoral process.
“Beyond that, we can even monitor when people are using election materials. We were in this country in 2020 when they printed excess ballot papers. We knew that. So if we intend to monitor even the EC’s activity going into 2024 to ensure that nobody moves fake materials into any area for the purposes of rigging an election, we believe it is our strategy and it does not flout any law,” he added.
The Deputy General Secretary of the NDC added that the drone will only be deployed in the Greater Accra region.