The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said, it does not trust the country’s independent election management body, the Electoral Commission (EC) in compilation of a credible voters register for this year’s general elections.
According to the party, the EC has compromised the registration process, leading to the NDC recording low numbers in regions of their strongholds, while the contrary has been witnessed in the strongholds of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Director of Elections for the NDC, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah said the party had observed inconsistencies in the figures provided by the EC in the voters’ registration exercise which ended on Sunday.
“We have discovered discrepancies in the data we collated and that of the EC, some of which the EC has referred to as mistakes emanating from reports submitted by their officers from the regions,” Mr Ankrah said.
“Interestingly while these mistakes are over reporting figures in our opponent’s strongholds, they are under reporting figure in ours,” he added.
The party has also called for an audit into the figures the EC has reported for the just ended 38 days registration exercise, citing issues of discrepancies in the provisional figures by the EC.
“We are calling for an independent audit of the entire register in relation to multiple registrations, details of all those who have engaged in multiple registration including their photographs, ID numbers, centres where they engaged in multiple registration should be made available to the political parties for verification,” he mentioned.
Again, the NDC has called on the various authorities to ensure that all individuals who were involved in the registration of about 66 Ivoirians onto the electoral roll are dealt with according to the laws of the country.
“We are calling for the prosecution of all the NPP and EC officials who connived to commit this grievous crime adding that the names of the 66 Ivoirians must be deleted from the register immediately,” he said.
Meanwhile, the party has commended Ghanaians for their cooperation in the entire registration process, despite the coronavirus pandemic and pockets of incidences recorded at some centres during the registration.
“We wish to commend all Ghanaians for their resilience, commitment and fortitude throughout the registration exercise in the face of the violence, intimidation, brutalities and the risk of the COVID-19 infections,” he stated.
The party urged all citizens to participate in the exhibition exercise and ensure their names are in the register in order not to be disenfranchised.
“We are encouraging you, check during the exhibition of the register to ensure that your names are in the register in order not to be disenfranchised on the 7th of December 2020,” he noted.
“With the same vigilance and enthusiasm that we monitored in the registration exercise, it must remain even more vigilant in the exhibition, balloting and most especially protecting our ballots on December 7,” he stressed.
BY FRANCIS NTOW & ABIGAIL ARTHUR
