The Electoral Commission (EC) has set aside April for the compilation of new voters register for the general elections.
“We want to start by mid-April and by the end of May, we would have finished,” the Director of Elections for the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, said on Starr FM.
The decision is despite recommendations from the commission’s Eminent Advisory Committee to engage all stakeholders before going ahead to compile the electoral roll which has been fraught with stiff opposition from some political parties.
Reacting to suggestions made by Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Ken Attafuah that they are willing to hand over their data to the EC for the 2020 elections, Dr Quaicoe said the commission has issues with that data.
“We have a challenge with their data. We are targeting over 10 million people but they have about 7 million so we don’t know when that will be ready. And besides, we have to attach a polling station to all those numbers. Voting is a right. People may have registered for the NIA card at a certain area but will want to vote in another area” he stressed.
The largest opposition party (NDC) and other political parties who are kicking against the compilation of a new register ahead of the December polls are demonstrating in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi today.
This comes after a similar protest in Tamale in the Northern Region last week.
The group argues a compilation of the new register will be a waste of the tax payer’s money. But the EC insists they will go ahead to compile the electoral roll despite the stiff opposition.
A coalition of eighteen (18) notable Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) last week collectively rejected the EC’s justification for the compilation of the register.
They argue the EC’s decision to compile a new voters register is unnecessary.