The Western Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joseph Nelson, is calling on the public to join the ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration on September 17 due to unresolved issues with the Electoral Commission (EC).
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Nelson explained that the EC recently displayed the provisional voter register for the 2024 general elections after conducting various activities, including limited registration, voter transfers, and proxy applications.
He said however, instead of instilling confidence in the electoral process and promoting free, fair, and transparent elections, the provisional register is riddled with numerous errors.
“Specifically, the eagle eyes of the NDC have unearthed the following, among others: One, a whopping 243,540 previous transfers were illegally added to the 2024 transfers, including repeated instances of illegally transferred names. Two, over 15,000 unidentified voter transfers, partly due to the fake registration of voters—where were they originally registered, we are asking. Three, 3,957 voters from the 2023 register have been deleted from the 2024 provisional register due to transfers. Four, 2,094 voters were transferred to different polling stations but are not found in the absentee voter list, as required by law.”
He stated that, as a responsible political party, the NDC brought the issue to the attention of the Electoral Commission (EC) and requested a meeting to seek an amicable resolution.
Mr Nelson said that during the meeting, the NDC formally presented this request.
“One, an independent forensic audit of the provisional voter register. Two, re-exhibition of the register, once all corrections have been made. We request that the register be exhibited again to ensure that the corrections have been implemented. Three, an updated register should be supplied to us. We identified the errors and submitted them to the EC in that meeting; they stated that all the errors had been corrected.”
He said that if the Electoral Commission (EC) has made the corrections, the NDC is requesting that the updated register be provided to the party to confirm that the changes have indeed been made. Mr Nelson noted that it is disappointing, though not surprising, that the Jean Mensah-led EC has flatly refused to fulfill any of their requests.
“The question is, what does the EC have to hide? On the basis of the foregoing, the NDC is calling on all Ghanaians who care about our democracy and the peace of Ghana to join us tomorrow, Tuesday, September 17, 2024, for a peaceful protest to demand free, fair, and transparent elections.”
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