NEC defends printing of extra ballots for vote
The National Election Committee on May 4 defended its decision to print 1.5 million extra ballots for the upcoming commune elections, saying the chances of misuse were minimal given better identification systems – though the opposition and civil society remained unconvinced. Following the NEC’s announcement that it would print 9.4 million ballots for 7.9 million voters last week, nine NGOs – led by election monitors Comfrel and Nicfec – released a statement on Tuesday questioning the need for the high number of extra ballots, saying it was an additional cost of $330,000 and ran the risk of being misused. The NEC’s decision would mean printing 20 percent more ballots than are strictly necessary, with NGOs pointing out most countries, on average, only produce an extra 2 to 5 percent.
