By Edward Acquah
Accra, Oct. 15, GNA- The Electoral Commission(EC) has assured political parties that the Certified Voters’ Register for the 2024 General Election will be ready by the first week of November 2024.
During an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) Meeting in Accra on Tuesday, the EC provided the Parties with the corrected(revised) Provisional Voters’ Register for their perusal and asked for their collaboration to clean the register.
The EC has commenced an online exhibition of the Voters Register from Tuesday, October 15, 2024, to Saturday, October 19, 2024.
The IPAC meeting discussed issues, relating to the online voter exhibition exercise and other matters towards delivering transparent and credible elections.
In separate presentations, the Political Parties welcomed the decision by the Commission to re-exhibit the Voters’ register, providing voters another opportunity to verify and correct their details.
Some of the parties, however, expressed concern about the duration of the exercise and appealed to the Commission to extend the exercise beyond five days to cater for network connectivity challenges and other issues that might arise.
Mrs Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the EC, said the re-exhibited provisional voters’ register was different from the one that was exhibited physically across the country in August this year.
“We are confident that the revised Provisional Voters’ Register is a departure from what was earlier exhibited. All discrepancies identified to date have been fixed,” she said.
“We are confident we will have a near-perfect final register ahead of the 2024 elections.” Mrs Mensa added.
The EC Chairperson assured the political parties that the release of the Final Register would not go beyond the first week of November.
She appealed to the political parties to collaborate with the Commission to address discrepancies identified during the online exhibition period and desist from churning out false information to discredit the electoral process.
“The EC cannot make anyone the President of this country. The EC only declares the voters’ choice and that is what will happen.
“The Commission has no intention to disenfranchise anybody or rig the elections for any candidate.” Mrs Mensa said.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) requested an application from the Commission to check the details of voters in bulk, but the Commission declined the request.
Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer, Deputy Director of Elections and IT, NDC, also asked the Commission to allow Parties to endorse the pink sheet for the December 7 polls before printing.
Mrs Mensa accepted the proposal and assured that all political parties would be invited to sign the pink sheets as requested.
Mr Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of Electoral Affairs, New Patriotic Party, dismissed reports that the NPP was in partnership with the EC.
“The NPP is always in bed with the law and not the EC. We will always be in bed with the law,” he said.
Dr Hassan Ayariga, founder and leader of the All People’s Congress, urged presidential aspirants to be decorous in their criticism of the Commission and desist from attacking the credibility of the electoral management body.
As of October 14, 2024, the number of registered voters stood at 18,772, 251, comprising 9,689,987 females, and 9,082,264 males.
GNA
