EC’s announced date for new register will not materialise - IPRAN

General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has strongly opined that the announced date for the compilation of a new register will not materialise.

Speaking at a press conference held by the Inter-Party Against the New Register, Mr. Nketiah noted that the Electoral Commission (EC) was not prepared for the April 18 announced date.

He said the EC was yet to complete its procurement process for the exercise, hence it will not be possible for them to start on the announced date.

The EC he bemoaned has failed to heed to reasoning and advice to rescind its decision to compile a new register despite the information provided to them to dispute the reasons they have given.

The Commission intends to complete the exercise by May 30, 2020.

The Commission also expects to exhibit the new register from August 15 to August 28, 2020.

Confirming these, Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Operations, Mr Samuel Tettey said the EC will deploy 8,000 registration devices to cover the 32,000 polling stations across the country.

He explained that the EC would use the cluster system for the registration, where four polling stations would form a cluster.

He said although the EC intended to spend 10 days at each cluster, mindful of the fact that the voting population in some polling stations was high, it might exceed the days at some polling stations to ensure that all eligible voters were registered.



But Mr. Nketiah says any attempt by the EC to compile a new register on the said date will only create confusion.

According to him, they will have no option than to sue the EC if they don’t rescind the decision.

He added that the only compilation they will support is a limited registration for first-time voters and those who do not have a voters’ ID card.

He said the parties against the new register are preparing the minds of Ghanaians for this so they would be slammed should they go to court.