The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has postponed its compilation of a new voter register as a result of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services told journalists after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting, Wednesday, that the outfit is collaborating with health experts to decide on a favourable date for the New Voter Registration
“We had planned to do the registration on the 18th but because of the pandemic, we can’t do it on the 18th, so, we are observing what is happening around Ghana and the global issue…so, when it gets to a time that we think the situation is fertile for us to commence with the registration then we can do it,” Mr. Quaicoe explained.
The compilation of a new voter register for the 2020 elections was scheduled to begin on April 18, this year. The commission had also expressed hope it will complete the exercise by May 30, 2020.
The New Voter Registration exercise which has been assigned a budget of GHS390 million faced opposition from some political parties and civil society organisations.
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The Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Registration, a coalition of six political parties, kicked against the plan, citing cost, time and credibility as the basis for its opposition.
Few days past, the National Democratic Congress NDC has dragged the Electoral Commission over attempts by the electoral management body to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.
According to the NDC, the EC can only “compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law.”
The NDC suit also cited the Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo as a defendant in the case.
In the writ to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the opposition NDC among other things demanded for a “declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the 1992 Constitution, 2nd Defendant [the EC] has the constitutional power to, and can, compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law. Accordingly, 2nd Defendant can only revise the existing register of voters, and lacks the power to prepare a fresh register of voters, for the conduct of the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.”
