The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed its displeasure about the ongoing limited voters registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) which begun yesterday.
According to the Chairman of the Party, Johnson Aseidu Nketia, who addressed journalists in Accra yesterday, despite filing a lawsuit against the exercise over the EC’s decision to restrict registration centres to their district offices, the EC went ahead to commence the registration process.
The NDC said given the long distances that many eligible voters will have to travel and the exorbitant fares they will have to pay to transport themselves to district offices of the EC under the excruciating hardships Ghanaians are presently confronted with, the decision is “insensitive, unreasonable, unlawful and unconscionable”.
“Aside it’s potential to suppress registration and voting, the EC’s decision to restrict voter registration to its district offices can promote and facilitate gerrymandering as agents of political parties will find it difficult to challenge persons who may be bused from one constituency to another to register,” Mr. Aseidu Nketia said.
He, however, noted that notwithstanding these pending legal matters, the NDC is fully ready for the registration exercise which was illegally commenced by the EC.
“We are ready! Very ready. But we care for the poor registrants who must cater for the cost and constraints of being registered to vote.
“We currently have our agents and officers in all 268 district offices of the EC,” he said.
He further indicated that the party was keenly and actively monitoring the process.
“We therefore wish to call on all NDC officials at all levels, members, sympathisers and Ghanaians as a whole to encourage, fund and assist all eligible persons or prospective registrants to defy the EC and participate in the ongoing registration exercise,” he added.
Meanwhile, report from Sagnarigu indicates that machines used by the Electoral Commission to register applicants in the Sagnarigu Constituency for the voters registration exercise were faulty.
According to some of the officials, the machines are facing some network challenges, resulting in the delay in the commencement of the registration exercise.
This caused tension at the EC office at the Sagnarigu Constituency, as applicants were stranded yesterday.
The Electoral Commission has not been able to register a single applicant at the centre as at the time of filing this report.
Some applicants have registered their displeasure about the failure of the EC to commence the process.
Some of them lamented that they had come from other parts of the region to register, and that the delay could affect them.
“Some of us came here early morning and up till now we haven’t eaten, and they haven’t started the registration as well. They are saying there’s no network and they can’t tell when the network will come,” one of the applicants disclosed.
They appealed to the Electoral Commission to ensure that they fix the situation to enable them “to register and go back to their various homes.”
The Electoral Commission has announced that the 2023 voters registration exercise will commence on September 12, 2023.
The registration process will take place at all 268 district offices of the Commission.
This registration exercise is open to individuals who have turned 18 years old since the last registration exercise in 2020 and those who, for various reasons, were unable to register during that period.
