A total of 673,276 new voters have been registered, according to the Electoral Commission (EC), sixteen days after the limited voter registration exercise across the nation began.
Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Bossman Asare made the announcement on Thursday, September 28, 2023, during a news conference at the Electoral Commission’s headquarters. He said the nationwide exercise is proceeding smoothly and according to schedule in its district offices.
“We are happy to note that the number of registrations has gone up considerably, and we are currently averaging 50,000 registrations per day since last week and this is very remarkable. To date, we have registered 673,276. The Commission is within a striking distance of the targeted 700,000 persons to be registered in this exercise.”
Dr Bossman Asare
In addition, Dr. Asare gave the general public the assurance that the current registration exercise would not be the last one before the general elections in 2024 as plans have already been made to conduct another restricted registration exercise in a few chosen electoral zones and hard-to-reach locations before the 2024 General Elections.
“We want to also state emphatically that this is not going to be the last registration exercise before the general elections in 2024. We will roll out another round of continuous registration exercise in 2024 in our district offices and also register people in difficult-to-reach areas in some selected areas.”
Dr Bossman Asare
EC Justifies The Use Of Ghana Card As The Sole Document For Identification
The Electoral Commission (EC) also made a strong case for the use of the Ghana Card as the sole document for identification for purposes of voter registration.
According to Dr. Bossman Asare, there have been instances of minors and foreigners abusing the guarantor system used in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise, which supports the need for the use of a document that will make it simple to determine the applicants’ ages and nationalities.
“We believe that the use of the Ghana Card as the sole document for identification for voter registration will help to improve the integrity of the electoral roll and ensure that only eligible Ghanaians are registered to vote”.
Dr. Bossman Asare
Dr. Asare further assured Ghanaians that the EC is working to ensure that everyone who is eligible to register to vote has the opportunity to do so.
“The EC is working with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to ensure that all eligible Ghanaians have access to Ghana Cards”.
Dr. Bossman Asare
Dr. Asare also urged all stakeholders, including parliament, to support the new Constitutional Instrument to abolish the guarantor system.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of the Electoral Commission the use of the Ghana Card as the sole document for identification for voter registration is essential to ensuring the integrity of the electoral roll and the credibility of Ghana’s elections.
The EC’s proposal has been met with some opposition, with some critics arguing that it will disenfranchise many Ghanaians who do not have Ghana Cards.
Meanwhile, two Electoral Commission (EC) appointees, Dr. Peter Appiahene and Madam Salima Tijani, have been requested by a Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to resign due to suspicions around their purported partisan affiliation with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The subject was discussed at a round table discussion by the CSOs, which included the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).
Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD-Ghana, stressed the significance of their resignation to preserving the nation’s democracy in his remarks during the discussion.
“If they appreciate where we are coming from I think that, that could be done and I think that the government can find other places that they could easily serve. It is not about their competency and capacity. I am sure there are other places where they can serve fully without all those implications that we have for our elections”.
Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante
The limited voter registration exercise which began on September 12, 2023, will end on October 2.
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