A total of 487 out of the over 45, 000 electorates, registered so far in the on-going Limited Registration Exercise in the Ashanti Region, have been challenged, the Electoral Commission (EC), has disclosed.
Mr. Benjamin Bannor-Bio, the Regional Director of the EC, said 78.8 per cent of the challenged cases recorded bothered on age, while 15.4 per cent were on the basis of non-citizenship.
Confirming this to the media in Kumasi, he said the EC’s Registration Review, would sit on those cases to decide their merit or otherwise.
“The EC after its investigations would enforce the law to the letter,” he said, stressing that names not qualified to be in the voter’s register would be deleted per the Commission’s rules and regulations.
Mr. Bannor-Bio described the exercise so far as smooth, saying the 21-day exercise which ends on Sunday, July 07, this year, had generally been peaceful.
The EC, he noted, was committed to conducting the exercise in a transparent manner and urged the citizenry to strive to follow due procedure and processes in the course of the registration exercise.
They should not take the law into their own hands, especially as they sought to challenge other people on their eligibility or otherwise, to be registered.
The advice is coming in the wake of recent reports of misunderstanding between activists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC), resulting in chaotic scenes in the course of the registration exercise at Asokore-Mampong.
The Regional Security Council (REGSEC) had since deployed a team of personnel to patrol the area, particularly the EC’s Registration Centre to maintain law and order.
Mr. Bannor-Bio said the exercise forms part of the Commission’s preparations towards the conduct of the referendum on the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), as well as the impending District Level Elections.
It is designed to give opportunity to Ghanaians who had attained 18 years and above, who had not yet registered an opportunity to do so.
Source: GNA