EC targets 700,000 prospective voters in limited registration exercise

The Electoral Commission (EC) is confident its 21-day timeline for the limited voters’ registration exercise will capture all unregistered prospective voters despite initial hitches.

Some centres recorded network challenges that stalled the process and sparked some confusion.

At the Tamale metro EC office, for example, there were arguments when it was suggested that manual registration be adopted following network challenges at the district centre.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson for the EC, Sylvia Annor, said the commission expects to register 700,000 prospective voters in the exercise.

In response to the reports of challenges, she said: “we have some teething problems and we are working towards addressing all those problems.”

“We have monitors in all our designated registration centres and I can assure you that they are working diligently to make sure that any unpleasant eventuality is nipped in the bud.”

“If you are a qualified applicant, there is no way the electoral commission will not register you,” the spokesperson assured.

The limited voters’ registration exercise took off on Monday and is expected to end on Sunday,  July 7, 2019.

The EC was only given clearance by the Supreme Court to go ahead with the exercise on June 11 after an initial suspension.

A Ghanaian citizen Umar Ayuba, the filed application at the Supreme Court seeking to stop the EC from going ahead with the limited voter registration following a substantive suit he filed challenging the decision by the EC to hold the registration in its district offices and some selected electoral areas.

A total of 1,573 electoral areas have been designated nationwide to cater for persons who were located at hard-to-reach areas after complaints by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The commission is using a Voter Management System and Biometric Voter Registration Machines to register prospective voters.

Prior to the new regions’ referendum in 2018, the EC captured close to 50,000 voters under a registration.