The Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensah has revealed that, about 17,027, 641 eligible voters are set to vote come December 7 as the nation goes to polls.
Giving an update as to the preparedness of the Electoral commission towards the upcoming elections, she stated that, the final list of the eligible voters in the register have females dominating with 8, 810,283 making up 51.74% and males amounting to 8,217,358 making up 48.26%. She added that, the greater Accra had the highest number of voters with North East having the lowest.
She added that, the final voter’s register, has been published on their website, this time around without the biometric information of the voters but their basic information; that is their polling station and names.
Touching on the concerns and issue of wrong perception with regards to the multiples and the exception voters list, she noted that, any information purporting the removal of names from the voter’s register was false.
Elaborating further on the issue, she explained that, names that are found on the multiple voter’s list are those captured by the software to have registered several times through the identification of the same thumbprint belonging to different names adding that, this year, the number of voters on the multiples list is 15,860 indicating that there has been a decrease in the number.
She also said that, information indicating that, the EC is removing names from the exception voters list was also false. She stated that, some names had been removed from the exception list because some persons had appealed legally and have proven their eligibility to vote adding that, citizens during registration had the right to challenge a person’s eligibility to vote.
Mrs. Jean Mensah, noted that for transparency and clarity, both the names in the exceptions list and the multiples list has been published.
Moving on to the special voting exercise set to take place tomorrow, 1st December, 2020, the EC Chairperson stated that, one hundred and nine thousand, five hundred and fifty-seven (109,557) persons are set to vote coming from various security agencies, media houses and the electoral commission staff. She also revealed that, this has been the highest number the commission has recorded so far.
She also noted that, with regards to the accusation that some security officers do not have their names registered in the special voter’s register was as a result of late submission of their details and not a deliberate attempt by the EC to not include them.
Moving on to COVID-19 protocols during the elections, she indicated that, stringent measures have been put in place to be observed by voters in the quest to ensure a safe election on December 7 and said, her outfit is expecting a near hundred per cent turn out.
She thanked the general public for their constructive feedback which helped the EC strengthen its work and processes and also thanked the media for their consistency on EC related issues.
“You have been our gateway to the citizens and we could not have reached the people without your collaboration.”