EC to present clean register for Nov 7 elections
The Electoral Commission (EC) has assured Ghanaians of a clean register for the 2016 polls. It said even before the Supreme Court ruling, it had discussed the road map for cleaning the register with the political parties.
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It, however, said in the light of the recent Supreme Court ruling, the commission was studying the judgement and its implications on the audit mechanisms it had already outlined.
The commission also said it would examine the implications of the ruling for voters who registered with National Health Insurance cards and make its views on the matter known in due course.
A statement signed and issued by the Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations of the EC, Mr Amadu Sulley, said “prior to the ruling by the Supreme Court, the commission had discussed the road map for cleaning the register with the political parties at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Friday, March 18, 2016.”
The road map
It said at that meeting, it was agreed that the audit process, as outlined by the commission, was inclusive, transparent and within the remit of the law and that the audit of the biometric voters register would take place during the scheduled exhibition period after the limited voters registration exercise.
The said audit, it explained, would involve the removal of the names of deceased registered voters, multiple registrations (with the help of the AFIS software), alleged minors and non-Ghanaians, based on the production of evidence.
It further stated that in accordance with the provisions of C.I. 91, registered voters would be given the opportunity to verify their registration details at all polling centres nationwide.
The commission also said it would use biometric verification devices during the exhibition period for the verification of registered voters.
Respect for rule of law
It stated that it respected the apex court and that it was committed to abiding by the laws of Ghana and the rulings of the Supreme Court.
“Further, the commission believes that the credibility of elections depends on a clean voters register. Therefore, all steps will be taken in line with existing law to ensure that the final register is clean and credible before the general election on November 7,” the statement said.
Background
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, May 6, 2016, directed the EC to delete the names of ineligible persons from the national voters register.
It also directed the EC to ensure that persons who were disenfranchised through its order were given the opportunity to re-register to enable them to exercise the rights conferred on them under the 1992 Constitution.
The court, prior to arriving at its decision, had set out a number of issues for trial as agreed on by the parties in the case.
The parties in the case are a former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Abu Ramadan, and another, Evans Nimako, applicants, and the Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General, respondents.
Messrs Ramadan and Nimako invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to nullify the 2012 national voters register and to compel the EC to compile a new one.