Provisional voters’ register ready for political parties – EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) says the provisional voters’ register is ready for collection at its Head Office in Accra.

The Commission at a press conference in Accra on Monday said some political parties, including the National Democratic Congress received the provisional register Monday afternoon ahead of the voters’ exhibition exercise scheduled to commence on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

Dr Bossman Eric Asare, Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Corporate Services, dismissed criticisms that the Commission had delayed in releasing the provisional register to the political parties.

“As you may be aware, the Limited Registration ended on 29th May, 2024, and the mop-up registration ended on 3rd August, 2024. On the basis of the Limited Registration, the Commission has until the end of August, 2024 to give the Provisional Register to the Political Parties.

“We wish to state that the External Drives containing the Provisional Voters Register are ready for pick up. We can state on record that the NDC has collected its External Drive which contains the Provisional Voters Register,” he said.

The Elections Watch Ghana, a pressure group, Monday stormed the Head Office of the Commission in Accra to demand the provisional voters’ register ahead of the exhibition exercise.

Mr Mark Ewusi, Convenor, Election Watch Ghana, told journalists after a brief meeting with some officials of the EC that the Commission had failed to furnish the group with the provisional register, contrary to the EC’s earlier assurances.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the EC’s press conference, Mr Ewusi described the EC’s posture as “disingenuous” and assured that the group would scrutinise the data to ensure that everything was in order.

The EC will exhibit the provisional voters’ register at all polling stations across the country from Tuesday August 20 to Tuesday, August27, 2024.

The exercise, which would be held in more than 38,000 polling stations from 0700 hours to 1800 hours, will offer voters, particularly those who registered in the just-ended mop-up registration exercise the opportunity to verify their details and identify their polling stations.

Dr Asare said voters who may not be able to visit the polling stations could dial *711*51#to verify their details on their phones at a fee of 0.50 pesewas.

He said the Commission had deployed all materials for the exercise to commence smoothly and encouraged persons who registered and voted in the 2020 General Election to visit the centres to verify their details.

The EC encouraged registered voters to present their voter identification cards at the exhibition centres to facilitate the process.

The Commission, however, indicated that voters without their voter identification cards could visit the exhibition centres to verify their details but could not request for changes to be effected without their Voter I.D. cards.

Among the corrections that can be requested are inclusion of omitted names; objection to names of unqualified voters on the register; removal of names of deceased voters from the register, and replacement of poor quality or damaged Voter ID Cards.

Other requests include correction to wrong spelling of names; correction to wrong registration centre codes, and amendment to other registration details such as age, and sex as a result of clerical error.

Source: GNA

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