New Voters' Register: Court Is The Last Resort – Hassan Ayariga

The Inter-Party Resistance against New Voters Register says it will consider taking legal action against the Electoral Commission (EC) if all attempts to get the compilation of a new voters' register fall on deaf ears.

The group over the weekend staged a demonstration in Tamale against the EC's decision to compile a new biometric voters' register for the 2020 General Election.

In an interview with Citi News, leader of the All Peoples' Congress (APC), Dr. Hassan Ayariga said legal action to have the process stopped is the last resort for the group.

“We will continue to ask for dialogue. Going to court is the last resort of everything, we don't want to use it as our first option. We will definitely use it as a last option. We will definitely use all the laws available to us.”

The EC has said it is ready to engage the various political parties, especially those opposing the decision to compile a new voters' register ahead of 2020 elections.

“As far as the EC is concerned, our doors are open. We will still engage the parties. Very soon, we will have an IPAC meeting to call on the parties for us to look at the modalities; how we are going to do it. So we wish that all the parties will come on board. If there are certain ways we can do certain things to mitigate the concerns of others, the EC is ready to do that,” the Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Dr Bossman Asare said.

Parliament has approved a GHS390 million budgetary allocation to enable the EC to carry out the registration exercise between April and May 2020 over a period of 50 days.

“Tikusayi” demonstration

Over the weekend, the political parties opposing the new voters' register took to the streets of Tamale in the Northern Region to express their disappointment against the move by the EC to compile a new electoral roll ahead of the 2020 general elections.

The group maintains that any money spent on the register will be a waste of taxpayer money, and also expressed fears that the EC may disenfranchise some Ghanaians.

Some thirteen political parties have, however, backed the Electoral Commission's decision to compile a new voters' register.

The parties, who as a group is known as the Coalition of Political Parties for 'YES' to a new register, believe the EC has made convincing arguments for the new register.

---citinewsroom