The Electoral Commission says it will reopen the registration exercise on Thursday, October 1, 2020
This comes on the back of criticisms about the initial exercise which ended last month as it currently undertakes the exhibition of the electoral album.
In a press statement released by the Commission, the exercise is “to give opportunity to those who have attained the age of Eighteen (18) and Citizens who for one reason or the other were not able to register in the just ended Registration Exercise”.
“The Registration will take place in the district offices nationwide. The Registration starts from 7am to 6pm”.
It is expected that the groups of people who will participate through the new window are: 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.
The EC convened an IPAC meeting on Thursday after the opposition NDC and other stakeholders outlined some irregularities which they believe will not augur well with the process if allowed into the upcoming elections without rectification.
Meanwhile, the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama has described the Electoral Commission’s newly compiled voters’ register as disappointing.
Addressing the press on Thursday, the former President stated that although the EC promised to provide a problem-free register, issues generated and detected in the new roll is unprecedented.
“They [Electoral Commission] said our old biometric register was overstretched, that the equipment was obsolete and so we are going to get superior technology [to rectify all these issues].
“But we are surprised and disappointed that the ‘so-called’ superior technology is generating even more problems than the one they described as obsolete”.
According to the opposition, earlier this year, despite widespread protests against the compilation of a new voter register, the “EC proceeded, headstrong and against all sound advice”.
John Mahama further revealed that the voter registration exercise itself was “characterized by bigotry and exclusion, where many citizens were crudely prevented from registering on the pretext that they were not Ghanaians”.
These acts of intimidation in his words “were perpetrated by the state security apparatus”.
Pressing home their demand for a more credible register roll, Mr. Mahama reiterated the demand of the General Secretary of the NDC for the EC to publish in full the names and particulars of all persons issued with defective voter ID cards.
“In addition to these very disturbing developments, we have noticed that the Commission failed to deploy Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) to all exhibition centers to allow for confirmatory fingerprint verification during the exhibition exercise”.
Mr. Mahama made an appeal to the international community and its election observers to help resolve the ensuing challenges within the EC.
“Given all that has gone amiss with the electoral process and the likelihood of continued greater challenges ahead of the election, I would like to urge them to focus their lenses on Ghana and arrive earlier in-country than ever before.
“This will enable them to engage the EC, IPAC and all stakeholders as part of efforts to resolve these major problems with the register”.
The NDC further reminded the EC that the “presidential and parliamentary candidates need the voters register for the purposes of filing their nominations”.
