EC analyzes voter registration today

All too soon, the nationwide voter registration exercise that was characterised by acrimony in some centers at the beginning has come to an end, and despite the hitches recorded, many, including the Electoral Commission (EC) itself, have described the entire process as successful.

The exercise, which began on March 25, 2012, officially ended on May 5, 2012, and though the EC is yet to come out with the official figures, it is believed that about 12 million Ghanaians have registered to vote in the December 2012 elections.

Information reaching The Chronicle indicates that the EC's commissioners will meet today to analyse the registration figures, probably release them to the general public, and then issue a provisional register for exhibition.

This would allow potential voters to go back and cross-check their details so that all anomalies would be corrected before the EC issues a final register.

The announcement is expected to end the period of speculation in various quarters, especially, in the media, and make way for factual analysis on issues related to the registration exercise and the upcoming elections.

On the issue of a possible extension to allow eligible voters who could not register within the 40-day registration period to do so, the EC is yet to make a definite decision, as it believes that the majority of eligible voters had registered, and meeting the projected target of about 12 million.

However, the EC Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has indicated that any extensions would be in only a few places where many people could not register due to incidents of faulty equipment and shortage of registration materials.

Already, there have been calls from some politicians and political parties, as well as individual Ghanaians, for an extension of the entire process, which the EC has described as unnecessary, in view of the general turnout.

Also at the end of the registration exercise, the EC announced that a total of 8,121 multiple registrations had been detected by the biometric matching system, involving 2,864 individuals, which mean that some of the people concerned, may have registered more than twice.

The breakdown of the figures of multiple registration, which occurred in all the regions, are 424 in the Ashanti Region, 411 in the Brong Ahafo Region, 335 in the Greater Accra Region and 326 in the Volta Region.

Also in the Central Region, 318 multiple registrations were recorded, 254 in the Eastern Region, 289 in the Northern Region, 225 in the Western Region, 162 in Upper East, and 120 in Upper West.

All these are expected to be analysed critically by the EC commissioners today, and then take definite decisions on the various components of the registration exercise to address shortfalls that are likely to affect the smooth organisation of Elections 2012.