Seven political parties without representation in parliament have called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to increase the number of centres for the voter registration exercise scheduled for September 12 to October 2, 2023.
They said the 268 EC district offices earmarked for the exercise were not enough and would make eligible registrants and their guarantors travel long distances and bear cost and risk to get to the district offices.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, they suggested that 1,500 centres as used in the 2019 registration exercise or more should be used in order to get more eligible people to register easily.
The parties, represented by their respective General Secretaries, included the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and Convention People’s Party (CPP).
The others were the People’s National Convention (PNC); All People’s Congress (APC); the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP).
The press conference comes days after the EC announced arrangements for the registration, saying that the use of its district offices instead of more centres in the electoral areas would not disenfranchise eligible voters.
The General Secretary of the GCPP, Citizen Ato Dadzie, who read the statement on behalf of the seven parties, said they expressed concern about the limited centres at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held last Wednesday.
He said their rejection of the use of the district offices was based on the fact that the arrangements would affect participation in the exercise, create unnecessary tension due to the concentrated numbers and bring unbearable cost.
He said instances that supported their argument included the case of eligible registrants from Dago and other far communities in the Akuapem Constituency who would have to travel to Aburi, the district capital.
Mr Dadzie said how poor roads, especially in the rainy season, could hamper their participation was also cited, following which the EC promising to revert on Monday.
“Most of us were therefore taken aback when we only heard and saw on radio and TV that the Electoral commission has set a date for the registration exercise and will use only their district offices as registration centres,” he said.
“We want to inform the general public that as political actors, we will continue to engage the EC to ensure they adopt a process that will be less burdensome and more convenient to ensure full participation and high success rate of the registration exercise,” he said.
Mr Dadzie reminded the EC that per Regulation 2 (2) of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.1. 91), as amended on Registration Centres, states that the registration should be done at a centre which is both suitable and accessible.
He, on behalf of the parties, gave the EC four days to rescind its decision else they would continue to contest the decision in various ways to be announced later.
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Yaa Jantuah, advocated the legalisation of IPAC to make its decisions binding on the EC.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR