Electoral Commission debunks assertion that it is secretly registering voters

Speaking at a press conference in Accra Tuesday evening (May 21), the Deputy Chairman of Operations of the EC said the argument made by the group was baseless and without merit and should therefore be disregarded as the EC has been transparent with political parties and stakeholders in the ongoing voter registration.

He indicated that the EC reported to security agencies that five laptops which are components of the Biometric Verification Machines were missing, and not the entire kits; hence, the EC cannot secretly use the laptops to register voters from a secret location.

He added that EC at the end of every registration day provides political party agents with daily reports of the  registration to compare with their tally to ensure that they check that their data are in sync with that of EC’s.

Adding, that no political party has disputed the figures published by the EC at the end of the registration because their records tally with that of the EC.

Serial Numbers

On serial numbers, Mr Tettey explained that serial numbers of BVR Kits play a crucial role in the operation of these devices. Particularly in the generation of activation codes essential for their functionality.

He stressed that EC’s decision not to disclose what it considers “sensitive security information cannot be misconstrued as providing cover for the EC to register voters at some undisclosed locations”.

He challenged Election Watch Ghana to provide information on where the alleged illegal registrations were taking place. Meanwhile, he urged political partie to publish their collated daily registration figures from all gazzetted registration centres and inform the public whether their numbers do not reflect the number of voters that are registered at the gazzetted registration centres.

He noted that as a result of the transparent process put in place by the Commission at all centres nationwide, no entity including the EC can add or take away from the figures recorded daily at all registration centres. Thereby, refuting allegations made by Election Watch Ghana to the effect that the Commission is registering people in a secret location.

Assurance 

He assured the general public that all political parties agents receive daily start and end of day report of the registration at the registration centres to enable them check their individual records on daily basis.

He said EC has provided political parties with the 2023 voters register which contained a total of 17,913,072. Adding, that it will publish the total number of registered voters at the end of the ongoing limited registration exercise.

Challenged cases, First Voters

The EC said it has observed worrying trends of minors and foreigners attempting to register as well as person suspected not be living in the areas where registration are taking place across the country which have been challenged by agents at registration centres.

Mr Tettey explained that a total of 7,821 challenged cases have been have been challenged at various registration centres across the country. This represent 1.50 per cent of total registered voters so far in the ongoing exercise.

On the details, the Volta Region topped the chats for the challenged cases with 1,710, followed by the Greater-Accra Region with 1,348. The Ashanti, Eastern, and Central Regions recorded 873, 652, and 541 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Northern Region recorded 478 cases; Savannah Region – 389; Oti Region – 296; Bono East – 296; Upper West – 266, and Ahafo Region – Ahafo 236.

The rest recorded the following cases Bono – 191; Upper East – 190; Western 182; Western North 164; and the North East – 19.

However, the EC could not decipher the challenged cases related to minors and foreigners attempting to register as well as persons who do not reside in their community of registration.

Mr Tettey expressed satisfaction at the ongoing exercise as it has successfully registered 522,025 eligible voters out of the projected 623,000 after day 13 of the exercise.

According to him, first time voters (ages 18-21) continued to dominate the registration exercise in all regions. Adding that, they represent 85.52 per cent of the total number of registered voters in the exercise so far.

Apology on errors 

The Deputy Chairman of Operations of the EC apologised to political parties, stakeholders and the general on errors committed on the recent infographs published for the first 11 days of the registration exercise.