Voters Register brouhaha : Mixed reactions greet EC’s decision

Abdul Aziz Politics Jan - 03 - 2016 , 21:12

Various political parties have expressed mixed reactions to the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to audit the national voters register for the 2016 elections.

While some of the parties support the decision, others have described it as shameful and stated that it proves that the EC has already taken a stand.

While the ruling the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is of the view that the decision is the right one, the dominant opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), thinks otherwise and says it will come out with its views in due course.

EC’s decision

The Electoral Commission (EC) has rejected the call by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some political activists for a new voters register and opted for the auditing and cleaning of the register for Election 2016.

The independent panel set up by the commission to look into the concerns of the NPP and views of stakeholders on the register found the arguments for a new document unconvincing and, therefore, did not recommend a new voters register.

A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Mr Christian Owusu-Parry, acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, said the panel was of the view that getting a clean and credible register was the responsibility of all citizens.

It said the EC would continue to engage stakeholders in an inclusive and collaborative audit process to ensure that a clean and credible voters register was used for the 2016 general election.

The commission will also publish the full report of the panel on its website- www.ec.gov.gh by January 7 for the benefit of the public, the statement said.

The EC also informed the public that it had examined all the allegations and complaints made by the NPP against the use of the current voters register and had responded appropriately to the party.

The EC said a copy of its findings into the claims made by the NPP will also be made available to the public on the commission’s website.

NPP

The acting General Secretary of NPP, Mr John Boadu, said the party received a letter from the EC on its decision on the voters register during the holidays so the NPP’s electoral reform committee would soon meet to examine the content of the letter to make its position known to the EC, the supporters of the party, as well as the general public.

Mr Boadu said the EC’s decision not to compile a new voters register solely on fact the NPP petitioned the Supreme Court was “shameful”.

NDC
For his part, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Koku Anyidoho, said the party and other political groupings had been vindicated by the Eminent Panel and the EC’s decision to audit the register.

‘’It could have been a fruitless and waste of the EC’s resources to pander to the whims of a minority section of the society or a group of persons whose immediate desire is to win power at all cost,” he said.

”First of all, we respect the EC for we have always believed in the sovereignty of the EC as a constitutionally mandated body that has served this country with distinction over the period since the country began the Fourth Republican dispensation,” Mr Anyidoho told the Daily Graphic in an interview and gave an assurance that the NDC would continue to work with the EC.

He also said through the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), political parties had the opportunity to put their cases and positions across.

CPP
The Convention People’s Party (CPP), which expounded the need for a new voters register, stated that it was unclear now why the panel decided to recommend to the EC that there was no need for a new voters register.

The National Chairman of the party, Professor Edmund Delle, therefore, underscored the need for the Political Affairs Committee of the party to immediately commence a study of the final report from the independent panel.

“I am sure that once our Political Affairs Committee, led by Comrade Ekow Duncan, completes its study of the report, we will make our position and the way forward known to the EC and the general public,” Prof. Delle added.

UPP
The United Progressive Party (UPP) stated that it fully endorsed the decision and firm position taken by the EC.

A statement signed by the General Secretary of the party, Mr Razak Kojo Opoku, stated that party first supported the call for new voters register.

However, it said upon carefully deliberating on the report submitted by the independent panel to the EC and also considering the closeness of the 2016 general election, the

“UPP fully supports and wholly accepts the recommendations made by the independent panel set up by the Electoral Commission to audit the register.’’

The statement, however, expressed the hope that the EC and the government, through the National Identification Authority (NIA), Births and Death Registry and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, would closely collaborate to compile a fresh, transparent, credible and trustworthy voters register and use that together with electronic voting for the 2020 general election.

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