A five-member panel set by the Electoral Commission (EC) to look into concerns over the credibility of the voters register will meet with the Commission on Monday to discuss work done so far.
The Electoral Commission will have the final say on the need for a new register or otherwise.
Background
After some partisan pressure led by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Electoral Commission announced the setting up of the five-man panel on 23 October 2015 to hold a two-day public hearing on the controversial Voters’ Register.
His Lordship Professor V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe chaired the committee that also included the Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante; Dr. Grace Bediako, Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor; and Maulvi Bin Salih.
The credibility of the voters' register was pushed into the forefront of national political discussions by the NPP aided by pro-NPP pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance.
They alleged that the current voter’s register is compromised and submitted its evidence which showed at least 76,000 foreign nationals are on the register. The NPP maintained the voters' register is unfit for next year’s elections.
All the participants – mostly political parties and civil society groups- who presented position papers admitted that the current register has problems that ought to be addressed; it is the mode of solving the problems that have attracted divergent views.
Click here to read full update on the E.C forum
The NPP position
Charlotte Osei
The Electoral Commission
Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei during the forum, blamed political parties for the problem of ineligible voters on the register.
She noted instances where minors are lured by political parties to register as well as dishonest parents who are enticed by political parties to get their wards registered. Some parents also register kids purely based on ignorance while some do not know the age of their children, she said.
She revealed that about 8,000 voters were identified as 18-year-old at one registration exercise and some years after, they still claimed they were still 18 years.
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