Elections 2004 (Results) - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana Office

The 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections
Proxy Voters
A registered voter may appoint somebody (proxy) to vote on his/ her behalf by applying to the Electoral Commission
for, completing, and returning a form designed for that purpose by the Electoral Commission. This facility is available
to voters who can show proof that they will be absent from the country on Election Day or that they cannot go
to the polling station to vote on Election Day either because of illness or because of official duties.
A voter who has appointed a proxy cannot vote by himself or herself unless he/she cancels the proxy by completing
and submitting to the Commission an appropriate form within a stipulated time, in which case the proxy cannot vote,
whether or not he or she is made aware of the cancellation.
For the 2004 election, proxy voting was limited. Some of the apllications for proxy were misdirected to the headoffice
of the Commission and so the regions disallowed them.
Transferred Voters
A voter registered in a constituency, but who had been a resident in another constituency for two (2) months or more
before an election might apply to the Returning Officer of the constituency within which he/she is residing for his/her
name to be entered on the transferred Voters List, so that he /she could vote in his /her new constituency on polling
day. In accordance with the regulations, a voter is not allowed to apply for a tranfer unless the application is submitted
not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date set for the election. An application for a transfer must be made
in person and no person may apply for a transfer for another. Transfer of vote can also be done for the purpose of
contesting an election, where an aspiring candidate is permitted by the election regulation to transfer his/her vote to
where he/she intended to contest not less twenty–one (21) days to the last day of nomiation.
The transfer list which was supplementary to the main voters register was prepared by the Returning Officers under
the supervision of the District Electoral Officers as part of the effort at maintaining the intergrity of the voters register
and to give all prospective voters the opportunity to participate in the voting on the polling day.
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