Media urged to avoid sensationalism in election reporting

The Eastern Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Paul Boateng, has appealed to media personnel to avoid exaggeration in electoral reporting as their contribution towards peaceful elections this year.   He urged the media to present the facts as they are to the electorate to enable them make their own decisions.   Mr Boateng was interacting with media personnel from some media houses from the Eastern Region in Koforidua on Monday.   Mrs Faith Amedzake, Deputy Director of the EC, said a voter could thumbprint the ballot paper several times provided the printing did not cross into the column of other candidates.    She said ballot papers used to cast the vote without the validation stamp of the EC behind them would not be counted as valid votes and appealed to agents of the political parties to be vigilant and ensure that all ballot papers are validated.    Mr Erick Mensah-Bonsu, first Deputy Regional Electoral Officer, said the region has 1,429,682 registered voters within the 33 constituencies with 2,971 polling stations.   He said 152 parliamentary candidates filed their nomination in the region with 12 of them being females and there are 17 independent candidates.    Mr Mensah-Bonsu said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed candidates in all the 33 constituencies.

GNA