The Electoral Commission (EC) has declined calls to extend the deadline for the ongoing voter registration exercise.
Among the notable persons who called for the extension of the voter registration exercise was Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the running mate for the opposition National Democratic Congress’ flagbearer, John Mahama.
Addressing the media on May 22, 2024, the deputy EC chair in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, justified that the 21 days allotted for the exercise were enough; hence, extending the deadline would not be feasible.
Despite the challenges faced by the EC at the initial stage of the registration process, Mr. Tettey highlighted that the process has been smooth across the country without any hindrance.
He added that the commission’s mobile teams had been deployed to hard-to-reach areas to enable applicants who may not be able to access the district registration centres to do so.
‘Unlike the first week of the registration exercise, when large queues were recorded in some registration centres, the numbers had reduced in many registration centres with a week more to the scheduled date for closure of the process.
“This is good enough to cover all difficult areas that the Commission earmarked,” he noted at the press conference.
“We don’t actually think that at this time it is even feasible for anyone to call for an extension,” Tettey added.
Data released by the EC indicate that as of the close of registration on the 13th day of the exercise on Sunday, 19 May 2024, a total of 522,025 new voters had been registered, out of which 446,416 (85.52) are first-time voters between the ages of 18-21.
Out of the total figure, 246,455, representing 47.21% of the registered voters are males and 275,570, representing 52.79% are females.
The EC had targeted registering a total of 623,000 voters by the end of the exercise.
Mr Tettey said a total of 813 persons living with disabilities had been registered across the country.
“The total number of challenged cases across the country stands at 7,821,” he added.
Regional breakdown
The Greater Accra region has registered 74,420 voters (14.3%); North East, 14,147 (2.7%); Upper East, 20,125 (3.9%); Northern, 47, 948 (9.2%); Bono, 20,886 (4.0%); Bono East, 18,861 (3.6%); Volta, 26, 486 (5.1%); Upper West, 15, 652 (3.0%); Eastern, 48,563 (9.3%); Central, 56, 141 (10.8%), and Ahafo, 10, 861 (2.1%).
The remaining registrations are Ashanti, 90,480 (17.3%), Western North; 16, 225 (3.1%); Oti; 14, 844 (2.8%); Savannah 12, 767 (2.4%); and Western Region, 33, 609 (6.4%).
The EC urged the public to disregard claims by a group called the Election Watch Ghana that alleged that the EC was using “stolen” Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits “to register voters secretly.”
Mr. Tettey described the allegations as baseless and explained that five laptops were stolen from the commission and not BVR kits.
“The five missing laptops on their own cannot be used to register voters,” he said.
The voter registration exercise, which commenced on May 7, 2024, is expected to end on May 27, 2024.