Security Taskforce want minors out of voters' register

Wa, Sept 15, GNA - The Wa Municipal Electoral Security Taskforce has appealed to political parties in the area to assist the Electoral Commission to remove all minors who registered when the voters' register was opened for first time voters.

Members of the Taskforce said they were appalled by the high turn out of minors in the constituency, when Mr Lucas Yiryel, the Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission briefed them at Wa on Thursday, on the recent voters supplementary registration exercise. Mr Yiryel said the number of people that registered went up to about 500 per cent to 11,569 from the 2006 supplementary registration figure of 2,669, and far above the Commission's projected figure of about 4,000 potential voters in the constituency. Mr Yiryel said 8,696 potential voters completed the exercise by having their pictures affixed to their registration forms while 2,873 others have not yet taken their pictures.

Fifty eight people were challenged for being under aged and not being residents in the constituency where they registered. He said a committee was formed to sit on the case of 33 minors who were challenged, and only three of them were declared qualified to vote. The non-resident potential voters who were challenged were designated to neighbouring polling station, he stated. He noted that it would be of great benefit to all stakeholders, if political parties chose their agents from the localities, since they know the people in their areas. "If the political parties fail to help in the clean up of the register to make it credible, they would have no justification to prevent even babies from voting, once they were duly registered", he added. The Taskforce also expressed its concern about the inability of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to educate the public on the exercise, resulting in near chaos in some registration centres.