The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has revealed that it has registered over 123,000 voters in the just-ended limited voter registration exercise in the Ashanti Region.

This was announced by the Ashanti Regional Director of the EC, Benjamin Bannor Bioh, after the registration came to an end on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.

The figure, according to the EC, is provisional, pending the announcement of the final number of voters registered.

Benjamin Bannor Bioh said in an exclusive interview with OTEC News reporter Jacob Agyenim Boateng that 88.8 percent of the figure are first-time voters between the ages of 18 and 21, adding that the remaining 11.2 percent are Ghanaians above 21 years old.

Mr. Bannor said 52.6 percent of the total figure were women, while 47.4 percent were males.

He assured the public of the commission's commitment to conducting more transparent elections in the December 7 polls.

Voters Registration Exercise:

The limited voter registration exercise started across the country on May 7, with a target to register 623,000 eligible persons onto the electoral register.

The 21-day exercise was meant for people who have turned 18 and others who had not previously registered.

The voter registration exercise was carried out in 1,053 registration centers, made up of 268 district offices of the Electoral Commission (EC) and 785 additional centers in hard-to-reach areas agreed upon with political parties.

Timelines:

The EC earlier stated that after the registration exercise, it would proceed to conduct a nationwide exercise to replace missing voter ID cards on May 30.

The EC intends to submit the provisional voter register to the political parties between July 9 and 18, 2024, and mount an exhibition of the voter register between July 15 and 24, 2024.

The final voter register is expected to be submitted to the political parties between August 30 and September 5, 2024.