The Chamber
for Local Governance (ChaLoG) has described as “untenable” reasons given
by the Electoral Commission (EC) to compile a new Biometric Voters Register
ahead of the 2020 general election.
The Chamber’s call comes on the back of the
Election Management Body’s claim the current biometric register is defective
and could not be used and in March 2019, the EC announced it will compile a new
voters’ register after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting.
The need for the new voters’ register, according
to the Commission, has been necessitated by several factors, including the need
to replace the outmoded biometric machines.
But addressing the Commission in a statement,
ChaLoG said it did not understand how a register that has been used for the
past seven years to conduct the 2012 and 2016 general election, some district level
elections and a referendum could suddenly be outmoded and obsolete.
“The Chamber is of firm belief and
conviction demand for compilation of a new biometric voters’ register by EC is
not sincere, has for past seven years used current biometric voters’ register
to conduct the 2012 elections, 2015 district level elections, 2016 elections
and 2018 referendum to create six new regions.
“This same ‘defective and non-credible
biometric voters’ register is to be used for conduct of December 17 district
level elections and would have also been used for referendum to amend Article
55 (3) if the Bill were not to have been withdrawn by the president on December
1, 2019.
“What then constitutes compelling reason
(s) why EC is now telling the citizenry, the same register which has been used
in the past and also to be used to conduct upcoming district level elections on
December 17, 2019 has become defective and non-credible, which is necessitating
compilation of a new register?
“It is unthinkable and unconstitutional for
EC to purport to use ‘defective and non-credible’ biometric voters register to conduct
upcoming district level elections and yet go ahead to compile a new
‘non-defective and credible’ biometric voters’ register to conduct the 2020 Presidential
and Parliamentary elections,” the statement said. -myjoyonline.com