We’ll deliver on our mandate - EC chair assures

Ahead of today’s crucial Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, the Electoral Commission (EC), has urged all political parties to present any discrepancies or concerns they have about the Provisional Voters Register (PVR). 

That it said, would enable the EC to further clean the register and rid it of any discrepancies.

It said the EC considered the register a national document and urged all parties to collaborate with it by presenting details of any lack of congruence to enable the EC to produce a credible and robust final register.

Live coverage

The Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa told the Daily Graphic that in line with the EC’s transparency policies and operations, the meeting would be covered live by the media.

The live broadcast of the IPAC meeting, she explained, would enable Ghanaians to be adequately informed and be part of the process.

She noted that at the opportune time, the EC would provide members of the public the opportunity to submit any discrepancies regarding their voter ID details to the EC for further cleaning.

Process

Mrs Mensa said cleaning the register was a process and not a one-off event, stressing that the “EC is committed to cleaning the register so that all stakeholders will be satisfied with it.”

She explained that the Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 91 recognised that the PVR was a draft register.

She said recognising that the PVR was bound to contain discrepancies, the framers of the C.I. 91 instituted the mechanism of the exhibition exercise to allow for the cleaning and revision of the PVR to ensure that it is credible and robust for an election,” she added. 

Mensa said it was for that reason that Regulation 23 of C.I. 91 provided clear and well-defined pathways to cure and deal with likely anomalies that are bound to arise from the registration of voters, including missing names, errors in biographical data, duplicates, the existence of deceased persons on the register, incorrect designation of polling stations among others.

Final register

She assured Ghanaians that the final voters register would meet their aspirations, reiterating that the EC remained open and committed to working with political parties to address all concerns about the register.

“We entreat the parties and the public to trust us to carry out our mandate,” she stated.

Petition

In a petition to the commission and Parliament on September 17, 2024, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged that 243,540 voters were transferred illegally in the provisional voters register.

It indicated that the said transfers were without the participation of the voters and, therefore, described the transfer as “illegal”.

The party also alleged that 3,957 voters previously registered were deleted from the 2024 provisional register without explanation.

Those discrepancies, the party said, made the PVR unfit for the 2024 general election and,therefore, proposed that it should be subjected to a forensic audit.