Limited voter registration: Govt is scheming with EC to disenfranchise Ghanaians – Barker-Vormawor alleges

A lead convenor of the #FixtheCountry# Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has accused the government of scheming with the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to disenfranchise Ghanaian youth.

According to him, the use of only the district offices of the EC for the ongoing limited voter’s registration exercise is part of the ploy to prevent young Ghanaians from voting in the 2024 elections.

In a series of posts shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), on September 13, 2023, Barker-Vormawor said that the government knows that first-time voters are the ones who are likely to vote against it and it is doing all it can to prevent them from entering the voter’s register.

“In every democracy, first-time voters are more likely to vote for change. But young voters are also the least likely to travel, go through all kinds of stress or spend a lot of money just to register.

“The Government knows this. The EC is intentionally disenfranchising young voters,” one of the posts reads.

He added that the government is also aware that not every voter can afford the transportation to the registration centres in the EC district offices, which means that relatively few people would enter the voter's register.

“It costs 60 cedis to go from My village to the district capital to register to vote. 120 cedis total. How many 18-year-olds in Amedeka have that much money lying around? This is our democracy? Active disenfranchisement of young voters is an electoral strategy.”

Background:

The Electoral Commission of Ghana announced that it would commence a registration exercise for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years old after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters who could not register on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, who made this disclosure at a press briefing in Accra, dubbed, ‘Let the Citizen Know’, on August 17, 2023, indicated that the registration exercise would end on Monday, October 2, 2023.

She added that the exercise would be held at all the 268 district offices of the EC across the country.

“The voter’s registration exercise will afford Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years, since the last registration of 2020 and others who are more than 18 years, but for various reasons couldn’t register during the 2020 registration exercise.

“The EC will embark on voter registration in all 268 district offices of the commission. The exercise will be held from September 12 to October 2,” she said.

However, five opposition political parties jointly filed an injunction to halt the ongoing limited voters' registration exercise.

The five political parties that have come together to file this injunction are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Progressive People's Party (PPP), Convention People's Party (CPP), People's National Convention (PNC), and the All People’s Congress (APC).

They describe the exercise by the Electoral Commission as an unlawful and unreasonable decision to restrict centres for the upcoming Limited Voter Registration exercise to their District Offices.

According to them, the EC’s decision to restrict the centres of voter registration to their district offices has the potential to deprive many eligible voters of their right to be registered as voters and to vote in public elections.

In the writ by the parties, they stated “a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 45(a) and 42 the constitution, the decision of the 2nd Defendant to undertake the 2023 limited/continues voter registration at the District offices of the 2nd Defendant instead of undertaking same on the basis of electoral areas will result in voter suppression particularly in rural constituencies of the country, and is thus unconstitutional as it violates the rights of the first-time voters to register and vote,” part of the writ stated.

The court is yet to rule on the applications.

BAI/OGB

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