EC to exhibit voters’ register

• Posted on June 22, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Reliable sources have hinted The Finder that the Electoral Commission (EC) plans to exhibit the provisional voters’ register from Monday, July 18, 2016 to Sunday, August 7, 2016.

According to the information, the EC is finalising the compilation of the provisional register for this important exercise.

The exhibition, which was originally scheduled to take place in June, has been shifted to next month due to the legal battles the EC was confronted with.

The exhibition of the voters’ register is very important in the electoral process because it offers all registered voters the opportunity to check their names and particulars and also ensure that names of the dead and minors, as well as double registrations are removed and corrected respectively.

The EC has consistently said cleaning the voters’ register is a collective responsibility and that every registered voter must be interested in checking their names in the register during the exhibition.

According to our sources, in preparation for a successful exhibition, the EC is vigorously training technicians and selected key trainers in all 10 regions for the exercise.

The training is to equip the technicians and trainers with the needed knowledge to have a better understanding of the process and what is required of them.

“With the progress of training in the various regions, the EC is confident of a successful exhibition,” one of the sources said.

It must be noted that the former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, has returned to the Supreme Court to seek further clarification on the court’s May 5 ruling which supposedly ordered the EC to remove names of persons who were registered on the nation’s electoral roll with the National Health Insurance card (NHI) as a form of identification.

The apex court on May 5 asked the EC to expunge from the current voters’ register the names of all persons who registered and voted in the 2012 elections with the NHI card as a proof of identity and give affected persons the chance to register again using accepted identifications.

But the EC, after studying the ruling, said its understanding does not suggest the use of any new process to delete the names of those who registered with NHI cards since there are already laid down procedures for expunging ineligible names.

November 7 voting day hangs

The EC has indicated that Ghana would conduct this year’s elections on November 7, 2016.

But the Majority and Minority in Parliament have cast doubts about the intention of the EC to hold this year’s elections on November 7.

The processes in amending the constitutional provision to change the date from December 7 to November 7 requires two-thirds majority of the house.

But the EC says it has done its part of the work and has laid before Parliament the instrument for consideration and passage.

By Elvis DARKO, Accra