The Electoral Commission has disclosed its intention to reopen the voter’s registration exercise within the country.
Sylvia Annor, the Deputy Public Affairs Director at the Electoral Commission (EC), said the decision was arrived at to permit those who were unable to register during the mass compilation of the new register.
“The Commission will come out formally to announce the continuous registration and come out with the modalities and the dates.”
The decision is the major outcome of an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held today, Thursday, September 24, 2020.
Albeit the activities of this second round of voter registration remains hazy, it would be targeted at three categories of eligible voters.
These include eligible voters who were outside the country due to COVID-19 restrictions, those who were under a 14-day mandatory quarantine and could not take part in the mass voter registration, and eligible voters who were duly issued voter ID Cards but whose names are missing from the register under exhibition.
With this, there has been mixed reactions from the various political parties pertaining to the latest round of registration.
Commenting on the development, the National Democratic Congress’ Director of IT, Kwame Osei Agyeman-Griffiths disputed that even when the Electoral Commission (EC) succeeds in carrying out this registration, such voters will not be able to take part in the December polls since the registration wouldn’t have met the statutory 60-day period.
According to the opposition, the country has just about 12 days to the 60 days cut off point, where it will be impossible to do so.
Coupled with the opposition party’s stance on the issue, it further quipped whether the Commission would equally carry out an exhibition exercise to validate the voters.
But the EC’s deputy Public Affairs Director insists the Commission is mindful of that, hence, will ensure it meets the constitutional deadline.
Peter Mac Manu, the manager of the New Patriotic Party’s campaign, although ambivalent about the matter, however agreed that such voters will not be able to vote in the forthcoming elections.
The Electoral Commission is expected to throw more light on this intended continuous voter registration in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has issued a statement after to extend the voters’ exhibition exercise from Friday, September 25 to Sunday, September 27, 2020.
The Commission explained that the move is part of efforts to serve the interest of its stakeholders and promote greater participation and inclusion in the 2020 elections.
“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.
“We encourage the public to take advantage of the extension by making time to verify their registration details”.
