Accra-Ghana, Aug. 17, GNA – The Electoral Commission (EC) has scheduled the registration of new voters onto the electoral roll to commence on September 12, 2023, to October 2, 2023.
The exercise, which is in accordance with Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution, will take place at the 268 District Offices of the Commission – a departure from the old system where limited registration exercises were done at the electoral areas.
The Commission has also set the 2023 District Level Elections for December 19, 2023.
At a press conference in Accra on Thursday, Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the EC, said the Commission had targeted registering 1.3 million new voters by the end of the registration exercise.
The exercise, she said, would afford Ghanaians, who had attained the voting age of 18 years since the last registration in 2020 and others, who were more than 18 years, but could not register during the last registration exercise to do so.
Following the rejection of the EC’s draft Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) by Parliament in April this year, the EC said it would adopt the existing Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91) (1) as Amended, for the upcoming registration exercise.
The draft C.I. which was disapproved by Parliament recommended a continuous voters registration exercise and sought to make the Ghana card the sole identification document to establish an applicant’s citizenship.
The adoption of C.I. 91 for the upcoming registration exercise means that eligible voters can use either the Ghana Card or the Ghana Passport to establish their identity as Ghanaians.
In the absence of the two identification documents, applicants would be required to present two people, who are already registered voters to vouch for their citizenship and age.
Mrs Mensa described as unfortunate Parliament’s rejection of the Commission’s proposal to phase out the guarantor system.
She said the guarantor system had served as a window for minors and foreigners to get onto the electoral roll in the past.
The Chairperson said after the 2020 voter registration exercise, the EC underwent tedious processes to expunge 15,000 minors and foreigners from the electoral roll out of some 40,000 complaints received.
“This number is one too many considering that in time past we have elected a president with less than 40,000 votes between the first and second runners up.
“In our view, this should not be countenanced or tolerated by any quarters as it has the potential of undermining the credibility of our elections,” she said.
Mrs Mensa said the EC would resubmit the draft C.I. back to Parliament for consideration when the National Identification Authority (NIA) commenced its operations nationwide.
Responding to fears that by organising the voters registration exercise only in the district offices, some distant applicants could be disenfranchised, the EC said it would liaise with communities with peculiar challenges to find workable solutions if the need arose.
Mrs Mensa also assured that the upcoming voter registration exercise would not be the only registration exercise before 2024 General Election.
Touching on persons who had lost their voters ID cards, she said lost cards could also be replaced at all the District Registration Centres at a fee of GHC10.
“We state categorically that persons, who have lost their ID cards do not need to register again. They simply must request for a replacement of their cards,” Mrs Mensa said.
