NDC Should Mute About The EC's Limited Registration Because It Stands To Lose Nothing If Potential Voters Are Disenfranchised

The Electoral Commission's (EC) limited registration kicked started on 17th June, 2019 but the journey leading to it has not been rosy, it has actually been a fog of consistent tug of war between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the EC. With the main issue for this tug of war between the two being the EC's decision to conduct the limited voter registration at only the EC district offices and some few selected electoral areas as against the norm of it being conducted at all the registration centers across the country.

But clearly, I don't see why the NDC should ever be worried over this decision by the EC which per the logic of the NDC are likely going to disenfranchise potential registrants who might have now turned eighteen years or have for some reason never partaken in any voter registration since 2012. Vividly from a very critical analytical point of view, the NDC rather stands to gain if a majority of the above potential registrants I have made mention above are disenfranchised through this strategy being employed by the EC for this 2019 EC limited registration, and below are my reasons from a statistical point of view.

Note, the majority of these potential registrants will be Senior High School leavers from 2016 to 2019 plus the current 2017 and 2018 batch of SHS students who have been placed in the SHS under President Nana Addo's Free SHS (FSHS) policy. Note, students who left SHS from 2016 to 2019 are people who witnessed how the bad economic management of former President John Dramani Mahama negatively affected everything in the country including their stay through SHS, and are also witnesses to how the cancellation of the training college allowances had its restoration under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo and as result getting a lot of them to benefit from it aside the many other amazing achievements under President Nana Addo that they are currently enjoying but had a zero of it under John Mahama. Further more, the current SHS students are students who entered in 2017 and 2018 respectively under the tenure of President Nana Addo and are also the same under the FSHS policy with a full knowledge of John Mahama's obsession to cancel the FSHS policy in case he wins the 2020 general elections. Per statistics, it shows that the students who left SHS from 2016 to 2019 are a total of nine hundred and ninety thousand (990,000) and the current SHS students enjoying the FSHS policy are a total of eight hundred and ninety thousand (890,000), making them a total of one million eight hundred and eighty thousand (1,880,000). From the above explanation, it shows majority of these potential registrants are likely to vote for President Nana Addo in the 2020 general elections. So meaning if there would be any occurrence of disenfranchisement of these potential registrants as a result of this strategy being employed by the EC for this limited registration, then it is likely to go strongly against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and not the NDC. Note, the distance of the EC district offices from most of the potential registrants are not inducive to persuade registration, moreover the conduct of the exercise while most of these SHS students are not on vacation is also not inducive for registration. The above gives a reason why the NDC should shut up about the EC's limited registration strategy being employed because the party stands to lose nothing even if potential registrants get disenfranchised, in fact it rather stands to gain more if such happens. More so, it therefore makes it an onus on the NPP and not the NDC to be worried, and as a result, the NPP should make sure it strategizes well per this strategy of the EC so that it can get all the potential voters registered because the NPP stands to lose most if any is disenfranchised

The Electoral Commission's (EC) limited registration was supposed to take off from Friday, 7th June, 2019 to Thursday, 27th June, 2019 in all district offices and some selected electoral areas but due to an injunction application filed by Ghanaian citizen, Umar Ayuba, challenging the decision by the EC to hold the registration in its district offices and some selected electoral areas, it was postponed. The limited registration exercise finally started on Monday, 17th June, 2019 and it is supposed to end on Sunday, 7th July, 2019, after the ruling by the Supreme Court dismissed the application filed by Umar Ayuba. This limited registration forms part of the Commission’s preparations towards the conduct of the 2019 Assembly and Unit committee elections and also the referendum on the district level election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) scheduled for December, 2019. Note, the 2016 limited registration which was a major event for the 2016 general elections spanned from 28th April, 2016 to 8th May, 2016.

Hhhhmm, may God be praised always
Nana Kwadwo Akwaa
[ [email protected] ]
Member, Critical Thinkers International (CTI)