Limited voter registration exercise ends successfully

The Limited Voters Registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) at 6000 centres across the country has ended successfully.

A Principal Public Relations Officer of the EC, Mrs Sylvia Annoh, told the Daily Graphic that on the whole, the exercise went well.

“We had a few isolated incidents, which is normal, but the police helped to resolve them,” adding that “no issues came that were beyond the capacity of the EC. We have been able to deal with all challenges”.

The exercise, which ended on August 13, was to enable persons who could not register during the last exercise and those who turned 18 years after 2012, to register.

She noted that the conduct of electoral officers, representatives of political parties and Ghanaians in general had been very good.

Court case

The registration exercise had originally been slated for June 20 this year; however, it was postponed due to a law suit by the National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Abu Ramadan, a farmer, Mr Evans Nimako, and a lawyer, Mr Kwasi Danso-Acheampong. 

The three had challenged the EC’s use of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card as a mode of identification.

They argued that the use of NHIS cards as an acceptable identification for registration was in contravention of the law and could allow non-Ghanaians to register and vote during elections.

Perpetual injunction

The Supreme Court had, by a unanimous decision, granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Electoral Commission (EC) from using the NHIS card in its current form as a form of identity for voter registration exercises in the country.

The court has also ruled that existing voter identity cards, other than the biometric one issued in 2012, can be used as forms of identification for registration.

The EC had since announced that in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling, it would not accept the NHIS cards as a form of identification for the process.

Turnout 

The limited voter registration exercise ended in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis with a mad rush by prospective voters to the various registration centres to take part in the exercise.

The number of centres the Daily Graphic visited showed that there had been a higher turnout during the last four days of the 10-day exercise, as compared to its first six days.

At the Army School Ranch Barracks registration centre, 13 people had registered as of 11:12 a.m. on Wednesday, while only three people had registered same time on day one of the exercise.

The registration officer at the Presbyterian Primary School centre, Mr D. Y. Aggrey, told the paper that a total of 144 people had been registered as of the end of Wednesday, last week.

However, he said at the close of work on Tuesday, 103 had been registered, most of whom were aged 18 to 20.

Mr Aggrey indicated that representatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had filed a challenge form against one of the newly registered voters on the basis that the person did not reside in the electoral area where the said person had registered.