Some 77 per cent of voters issued with photo ID

The Electoral Commission on Monday said that 77.34 per cent of thumb-printed voter ID card holders have been issued with photo ID cards. The total number of registered voters without photo ID cards was 6,821,329 and the exercise covered 5,256,389. Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, Director of Elections, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra said these figures were compiled before the mopping-up exercise, which ended on Sunday.

He said the commission changed from its traditional approach of carrying out the exercise simultaneously in all regions to moving from region to region. This was to ensure that registered voters did not travel over long distances to have their photographs taken. It was also to reduce the pressure on cameramen and other staff at the registration centres, Mr Arhin said. Mr Arhin said the commission used a maximum of 900 cameras. He said regional statistics on the exercise indicated that the Northern Region, with 690,055 thumb-printed cards, issued 605,572 photo ID cards, representing 87.76 per cent.

Upper East, with 359,129 thumb-printed cards, issued 308,837 photo ID cards, representing 86 per cent, Upper West, with 220,413 had 173,737 representing 78.82 per cent. The Brong Ahafo, with 937,636 thumb-printed cards, issued 736,940 photo ID cards representing 78.60 per cent, Eastern, with a population of 1,023,513, had 772,063 issued with photo representing 75.43 per cent.

Central Region, with 698,369 thumb-printed cards, issued 524,057 photo ID cards, representing 75.04 per cent; Ashanti Region, with 1,149,339 thumb-printed cards, had 860,628 photo ID cards, representing 74.88 per cent. Western Region, with 741,554 thumb-printed cards, had 552,414 photo cards, representing 74.49 per cent; Volta Region with 724,107 thumb-printed ID cards, had 524,613 issued with photo ID cards, representing 72.25 per cent; and Greater Accra Region, with 277,214 thumb-printed cards, issued 197,528 issued photo IDs, representing 70.13 per cent.