By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Seven political parties out of the lot have raised concerns with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to conduct the upcoming limited registration only at its district offices.
The parties are the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Convention People’s Party (CPP), People’s National Congress (PNC), All Progressives Congress (APC), National Democratic Party (NDP), and the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP).
According to the political parties, such a move would disenfranchise a number of Ghanaians who have attained the voting age.
The political parties want the EC to open up the process for the exercise to be conducted in the electoral areas.
The seven political parties have thus promised not to rest until the EC registers all eligible Ghanaians who have attained the voting age.
Last week, the EC announced the start of limited voter registration for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years old after the 2020 registration.
The exercise will be held for eligible voters from September 12, 2023, to October 2, 2023.
According to the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, the exercise would be held at all the 268 district offices of the EC across the country.
At a news conference in Accra on Monday, August 21, 2023, the General Secretary of the GCPP, Frederick Ato Dadzie, said the intended exercise would only disenfranchise some eligible Ghanaians.
Some members of civil society present also opined that to ensure the electoral process is participatory and decentralised, it should include if not all, then some electoral areas in a cluster form, as done in the past.
At least if the EC cannot do more than 1,500 registration centres as done in 2019, they should maintain the status quo.
“We, therefore, suggested that the EC use 7 days to do the registration exercise at the electoral areas and use another 7 days to do a mop-up exercise at their district offices to even save them time and cost.
The Electoral Commissioners informed us that they had taken our concerns and “will get back to us”, a phrase we are well accustomed to, and so we pushed further for timelines, and they indicated by the close of day Monday.
“Most of us were taken aback when we only heard and saw on radio and TV that the Electoral Commission has set a date for the registration exercise and will use only their district offices as registration centres.
In conclusion, we also want to publicly call on the Electoral Commission, through its Chair, Madam Jean Mensa, to rescind their decision and make the process more accessible and painless to enable the average Ghanaian who is eligible to exercise their right and entitlement to be registered as a voter.
This will reflect in the EC’s commitment in building a solid and credible institution to protect the strong and enviable record of Ghana as a beacon of democracy that will continue to be worthy of emulation across the continent,” he added.