Majority Leader Demands Timely Provision Of Voters’ Register To Political Parties

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says the Electoral Commission (EC) should be urged to make available the certified voters’ register to political parties early enough ahead of the 2020 polls.

He made the statement on the floor of Parliament on Friday giving hints that the Chairperson of the Commission may be invited to the House to brief legislators on preparations ahead of the general elections in December.

The Electoral Commission is required by law to provide political parties with the certified electoral roll at least two months before the elections but with less than six weeks to Ghana’s 2020 elections, the Commission is yet to make the register available to the parties.

The Majority Leader, in responding to criticisms from the Minority about the EC’s delay said the situation is not strange as previous administrations of the Electoral Commission have also failed to do so within the two-month period.

“The law provides the EC to avail a certified copy of the voters’ register to political parties at least two clear months before the conduct of the elections. Unfortunately, no Electoral Commission Chairperson since 1992 has been able to conform, starting from the period of Afari Gyan,” he said.

He added that, “That is not good enough, and we should encourage the Commission to break that jinx. It should not be said anywhere that this hasn’t happened [before].”

The Electoral Commission (EC) recently disqualified 30,000 names from the voters’ register, barring the affected persons from voting in the upcoming elections.

According to the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Corporate Services, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare the affected people “cannot vote because they had engaged in infractions.”

— citinewsroom