The Electoral Commission (EC) said it has registered a total of 182,831 eligible voters in the first six days of its ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
Per the data, the Ashanti region has the highest registration with 29,255 registrants representing 16 per cent followed by the Greater Accra region; 27, 264 representing 14.9 per cent.
The Western region recorded 11,644, really resenting 6.4 per cent, Western North 6,491, 3.6 per cent, Central Region 17,590, 9.6 per cent, Volta Region, 12,681, 6.9 per cent, Oti Region, 4,427, 2.4 per cent, and Eastern 19,327 representing 10.6 per cent.
The Bono region recorded 6,580 registrations representing 3.6 per cent, Ahafo, 4,519, 2.5 per cent, Bono East 7,291, 4.0 per cent, Savannah, 4,655, 2.5 per cent, Northern Region 12,982, 7.15 per cent, North East, 4,244, 2.3 per cent, Upper East 8,639, 4.7 per cent and Upper West, 5,241, 2.9 per cent.
Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs Jean Mensa, who gave the figures at the ‘Let the Citizen Know’ media engagement in Accra yesterday said though the exercise took off slowly with 12,000 registrations on the first day same has risen to 42,776 registrations on Sunday, the sixth day of the exercise.
“In spite of the few hiccups we experienced in the first two days, the exercise is proceeding well to the glory of God,” she stated.
The cause of the hiccups, she explained included internet failure, faulty kits, and large crowds and queues at the registration centers which slowed the exercise.
To address this, she said registration desks were increased from one to four in some cases and faulty kits replaced to speed up the process.
“As a Commission we are on the ground and working around the clock to ensure that every eligible voter who is desirous to register as a voter does so with ease,” she emphasized.
On allegations that by restricting the registration to their district offices some eligible voters may be disenfranchised, Mrs Mensa said assertions were false.
“It is not in our interest as a Commission to disenfranchise any eligible voter. We take pride in the fact that we have the second highest registered voter per population – 55 per cent- in the whole of Africa with the exception of Cape Verde which has a voter population of 56.3 per cent.”
She admitted that the Commission’s decision to limit the exercise to its 268 district offices has attracted criticism from some sections of society but clarified that the ongoing exercise is an update of the register and not a full-blown registration.
“This will not be the only registration exercise before the 2024 elections,” she assured.
Going forward, Mrs Mensa said her outfit planned to roll out the continuous registration exercise in all its district offices nationwide in 2024 for a “considerable length of time.”
Additionally, she said difficult to access areas would be identified and a mop-up exercise undertaken before the preparation of the final register for the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Assuring Ghanaians that “we have their best interest at heart, we do not intend to disenfranchise eligible voters,” she said the Commission’s present circumstances made it impossible to conduct the ongoing exercise on electoral area basis because the current work programme was what was approved by Parliament.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
