Voter registration exercise has been successful so far – EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) says the ongoing voters’ registration exercise has so far been very successful.

It says, although there have been challenges at some centres, the level of cooperation between the public and registration officials has ensured a generally smooth exercise.

Acting Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Sylvia Annoh told Citi News in an interview that the Commission expects Ghanaians who are yet to acquire the voters’ ID card to do so in the last phase of the exercise which ends on Thursday, August 6, 2020.

“The EC is very happy with the conduct of the registration exercise because it’s been very successful… We just want to thank Ghanaians for cooperating with the Commission for the success. We want to appeal to the general public, especially those who are qualified, to go to the designated registration centres to go through the process of getting their voters ID card,” she said.

According to figures from the Commission, as of Sunday, July 26, 2020, 12,371,651 persons had been registered across the country.

The EC is targeting the registration of 15 million citizens at the end of the exercise.

Before this new registration exercise, there were a total of 16,845,439 voters on the register.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Annoh has cautioned political parties against busing members to specific registration centres.

“The Electoral Commission has had reports of some political parties bussing members to some specific registration centres so they can register as voters and the commission would like to throw a word of caution to those who are engaged in this activity to desist from it because once you are not a Ghanaian, you don’t have any right to register,” she said.

EC has organised ‘one of the best’ registration exercises in 4th Republic – Godfred Dame

The Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame has expressed his immense satisfaction with the ongoing voter registration exercise, describing it as one of the best in the country’s Fourth Republic.

Mr Dame singled out the Electoral Commission (EC) and its officials for praise, for their commitment and speed, despite the challenges brought about by the COVID pandemic.

The Deputy AG, who paid a courtesy call to some of the registration centres at East Legon, in the Ayawaso West Wuogun Constituency, insisted that the EC deserves commendation for the work they have done, especially in these last few weeks.

Mr Dame and his wife, Dr Mrs Joicelyn Dame, who is a member of the National COVID-19 medical team, distributed food and PPE to EC officials and security personnel at the centres they visited.

The EC commenced the final phase of the registration exercise last week, with over 12 million people registering so far.

Before this new registration exercise, there was a total of 16,845,439 voters on the register, however, the EC decided to create a new roll as they believed the old one was bloated.

This led to some agitation from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who challenged the EC and the AG’s office at the Supreme Court over the registration itself and later the identification process.

However, the AG’s legal team, led by Godfred Dame, was successful in their defence, leading to the continuation of the registration exercise.