EC will be fair - Chairperson assures 2024 election stakeholders
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Adukwei Mensa, has assured the public of the commission’s commitment to provide a level playing field for all candidates and political parties in this year’s general election.
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She said the commission would undertake its mandate in the upcoming elections without fear or favour. From the registration to the declaration of results, Mrs Mensa said, the commission would operate in the spirit of transparency, fairness and integrity, as embedded in its motive and work to deliver a credible, fair, peaceful and transparent electoral process
The EC Chairperson gave the assurance when she answered questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) on the floor of the House last Friday on the commission’s preparations towards the upcoming general election.
Registration exercise
Giving an update on this year’s limited voter registration exercise, she said it took place in all 268 district offices across the country, including the Guan District, in addition to 800 difficult-to-reach centres and others at 25 public universities.
At the end of the 23-day exercise, Mrs Mensa said 778,447 new voters were registered, exceeding the original target of 623,000.
Out of the number, 63.68 per cent used the guarantor system, 36.28 per cent used the Ghana Card, while 0.34 per cent used their passports to prove their citizenship and age.
She added that the number of females registered in the exercise summed up to 408,332, constituting 52.45 per cent of the total number of those registered, while male voters amounted to 370,115, constituting 47.55 per cent.
The EC chairperson also announced that following the EC’s engagement with the Ghana Federation for the Disabled, the exercise witnessed an encouraging participation from persons with disability (PWDs), as 1,341 of them registered to vote, with the highest number coming from the Central Region.
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Additionally, Mrs Mensa said the number of 18 to 21-year-olds or first-time voters accounted for 646,884, constituting 83.10 per cent of those registered. She also stated that the number of transfers added up to 334,073, while the number of proxy voters was 2,364.
Mistakes
Mrs Mensa said the EC missed a number of important steps in the data generation process in its efforts to provide timely information on the registration details to the citizenry which resulted in a few mistakes on some of the slides that were released to the public.
The commission had since those episodes assessed its methods and introduced more rigorous processes to guarantee accurate data going forward. “In terms of the arrangements put in place, the conduct of our field staff, the availability of materials and the functioning of our equipment, among others, the 2024 Voters Registration Exercise was highly successful”.
“It was inclusive and highly participatory, and to date we have not heard or received any complaints relating to the disenfranchisement of citizens,” Mrs Mensa said.
Violence
Although the exercise experienced some pockets of violence, the EC Chairperson indicated that no lives were lost. The conflicts and violence, Mrs Mensa said, stemmed mainly from the abuse of the guarantor system, which led party agents to challenge voters who were bused to the centres by their opponents.
The commission, she added, would continue to advocate the use of the Ghana Card as the sole means to verify a person's age and citizenship.
“We believe that the sole reliance on the Ghana Card to authenticate a person's age and citizenship will be the surest way of ensuring a credible register and reducing the tensions and conflict that often characterise our registration exercise,” Mrs Mensa stated.
Policy decisions
Highlighting the number of policy decisions taken by the commission for this year’s voting exercise, Mrs Mensa said although the proposal to bring the election date forward to November would not be implemented this year, the commission intended to forward the memorandum making the case to the Office of the Attorney-General for its implementation in 2028.
Election calendar
On the election calendar, she said the issue was discussed extensively at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting and received the input of all the political parties.
The EC chairperson said the feedback from the political parties was fed into what became the final plan for programmes for this year’s events.