Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, affectionately known as COKA, a prominent member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), is spearheading an educational campaign in the Ashanti Region to address the rising concern of rejected ballots ahead of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
During his final campaign tour of the Afigya Kwabre South Constituency, COKA stressed the importance of proper voting techniques to ensure every vote counts. “We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” he told party supporters, highlighting the significant number of rejected ballots in previous elections. “The increasing number of rejected ballots in our region alone over the last election years is far too high, and this year, it must be avoided.”
COKA urged NPP members to take responsibility for voter education by engaging in door-to-door sensitization campaigns. This initiative, he emphasized, is critical to educating voters on how to cast their ballots correctly, ensuring their votes are valid. “Our party must not lose votes due to avoidable errors,” he added.
He also called on the electorate to show the same level of commitment to voting as seen during former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s era, which led to resounding NPP victories. “Voter apathy is exactly what we are fighting against. We need all hands on deck. If you stay home, we may regret the outcome of the election. Our loyalty to the party counts now more than ever,” COKA passionately urged.
This campaign comes after data from the Electoral Commission revealed that in the 2020 presidential election, the Ashanti Region recorded 34,858 rejected ballots, representing 1.39% of the total votes cast. COKA’s initiative aims to change this narrative by rallying party members and voters to ensure they cast valid ballots in the upcoming December elections.
The NPP’s efforts are focused on maximizing voter participation and accuracy in the Ashanti Region to avoid costly mistakes and secure a decisive victory for the party in the 2024 elections.
