Dr. Serebour Quaicoo, Director of Electoral Services, at the Electoral Commission, has announced that the Electoral Commission is considering a supplementary voter registration exercise to follow up on the recently completed registration period.
However, he indicated the proposal for a mop-up voter registration exercise is still under discussion, as the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) is still deliberating on the issue, and a final decision has not been confirmed.
“Definitely. We will do that but not now, maybe in the next two months or so. Provisionally, we have registered 747, 715. The target was 623,000 so we’ve gone beyond it by more than 100,000”.
Dr. Serebour Quaicoo
Furthermore, Dr. Quaicoo noted that while the number of registered voters exceeds EC projections, alleged registrations of minors and foreigners by political parties may lead to corrections that may reduce the total if investigations confirm these claims.
As such, Dr. Quaicoo revealed that approximately 12,000 registrants are under investigation for various infractions, including the unlawful registration of non-citizens, underage individuals, and those residing outside designated districts.
Moreover, Dr. Quaicoo stated that the cases of alleged registration irregularities are currently undergoing review by the appropriate authorities in their respective districts and are expected to be resolved within the next week. “Some of the districts may finish today or tomorrow”, he added.
Dr. Quaicoo further explained that political parties are represented on the adjudication committee, which determines the eligibility of suspected registrants to vote, emphasizing that the committee’s role is to ascertain the guilt or innocence of individuals accused of registration irregularities.
However, he emphasized that the Commission retains the authority to decide whether to pursue prosecution in such cases, highlighting a clear distinction between the adjudication committee’s role and the Commission’s responsibility to determine legal action.
Furthermore, Dr. Quaicoo blamed political parties for the registration malpractices, citing their practice of transporting citizens to registration centers as a key factor contributing to the surge in underage registrants.
NDC Admits to Bussing Registrants
Meanwhile, the NDC’s Deputy General Secretary, Mr. Mustapha Gbande, conceded that political parties have indeed transported citizens to registration centers to facilitate their registration, acknowledging the practice that Dr. Quaicoo had criticized.
However, he justified this practice, explaining that political parties had to step in due to economic challenges, as many individuals lacked the financial means to travel to registration centers, and that by providing transportation, parties were facilitating the registration process for these citizens.
“I am surprised that my brother Nimako is denying it. NPP makes it very difficult for honesty to prevail. Political parties facilitated our Parliamentary Candidates to do bussing. The NPP says they were not, we [NDC] did”.
Mr. Mustapha Gbande
Furthermore, he admitted that the transportation of registrants may have inadvertently allowed minors to register, but he countered that the Electoral Commission’s clean-up exercise is designed to address and rectify such irregularities, including the removal of ineligible voters from the register.
As such, he urged the EC to guarantee that genuinely eligible voters are not disenfranchised during the clean-up exercise, stressing that the NDC supports the clean-up effort, but wants to ensure it does not unfairly deprive legitimate registrants of their right to vote.
Accordingly, Gbande drew parallels with the 2020 registration clean-up exercise, where the EC’s actions led to the disenfranchisement of voters in certain NDC strongholds, sparking a contentious dispute between the NDC and the EC.
However, Gbande reaffirmed that as long as the clean-up process is transparent, credible, and inclusive of all political parties, the NDC will offer its full cooperation and support.
Furthermore, the NDC patriot criticized the EC’s delayed communication, pointing out that the NDC is often the last to receive information from the EC, which raises concerns about the Commission’s efficiency and administrative competence.
“Just this afternoon, I saw the letter they [the EC] wrote asking for nomination of reps. The letter was written on the 27th, the action was supposed to be taken on the 29th, and the NDC on the 30th [May], today. And the distance between the NDC headquarters and the EC is five minutes”.
Mr. Mustapha Gbande
As such, Gbande questioned whether the EC’s actions were intentionally designed to hinder the NDC’s participation in crucial matters, implying a potential bias or obstruction.
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