The Electoral Commission (EC) has cautioned parents and guardians to advise their underage children to refrain from participating in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
According to the EC Deputy Chairperson in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, anyone caught in such an act will face the consequences of the law.
Dr Bossman Asare said: “We would like to use this opportunity to entreat parents to advise their wards who are less than 18 years old not to be coerced by anyone to assume a new age and register as a voter because they may find themselves on the wrong side of the law.”
He said that the Commission had received evidence of foreigners, minors, and other ineligible persons participating in the registration exercise under the guise of the guarantor system.
According to him, this act was being backed by some political parties.
“Political party officials and members of political parties are also entreated to stop the practice of persuading people who are unqualified and ineligible, such as minors, from taking part in the registration exercise. We have noticed that minors and foreigners have taken advantage of the guarantor system with the support of some members of political parties.
“As our key stakeholders, we expect the political parties to support us to ensure the voter’s register is credible because if there are people who will benefit from a credible voter’s register, we strongly believe the political parties will be one of the main beneficiaries,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Asare said the EC has successfully registered some 673,276 new voters within 16 days from the beginning of the limited voters’ registration exercise.
He was optimistic that the Commission would meet its projected target of registering 700,000 new voters by the end of the exercise.