EC extends voter register exhibition by two days

With complaints of missing names in the new voters’ register on the rise, the Electoral Commission (EC) has extended the exhibition of the electoral roll by two days.

Originally, the exercise which started on September 18 was scheduled to end on Friday, September 25 but the deadline has been extended to Sunday, September 27.

The decision, the EC said in a statement is to ensure inclusion and promote greater participation of all its stakeholders.

“The Commission is of the view that this extension will allow even more stakeholders to check and verify their voter registration details. This is instrumental for the achievement of a clean and credible voters’ register.

“The last day of the Exhibition Exercise will therefore be Sunday 27th September 2020. We encourage the public to take advantage of the extension by making time to verify their registration details.”

It also encouraged voters to verify their registration details by sending their Voter ID numbers to the Short Code 1422.

The National Democratic Congress had accused the EC of deliberately deleting the names of its supporters in its stronghold.

According to reports voters in Binduri, Jirapa, South Dayi, Akatsi South and Ashaiman constituencies who went to check their names in the new electoral roll could not find it.

No plan to remove NDC supporters

Meanwhile, the EC has denied allegations that it is carrying out an agenda to remove the names of supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) from the register.

It said the commission had, from the beginning of the compilation of the voters’ register, lived up to its motto: Fairness, Transparency and Accountability.

It noted that at every point, it had provided factual, accurate and evidence-based information to stakeholders on voter statistics per region, district, gender, and age among other things.

The statement said to date every interested Ghanaian had information on the number of persons who registered in the just concluded voter registration exercise based on the information provided.

“It is a paradox, therefore, to suggest that the same Commission now seeks to remove persons from the Voters Register. Had that been the agenda of the Commission it would not have given detailed information to stakeholders throughout the Registration process. We assure the public that these allegations are unfounded,” it said.

The statement said the law recognised that a registration process was not full proof and had provided a mechanism called “Exhibition” to allow citizens to verify their details to ensure they were captured in the register or that details such as sex, age and name were accurate.

“This process is not new and has always formed part of our processes. In a nutshell, the Exhibition Exercise provides an opportunity to stakeholders to unearth problems with the register for the purpose of fixing it. We are fixing the issues unearthed,” the statement said.

It assured the public of the Commission’s commitment to working to ensure that the margin of error with the Voters Register was negligible.

“We are confident that at the end of the process, we will bequeath the nation with a Register that reflects truth and integrity, a Register that is credible and comprises eligible Ghanaians only,” it said.