Politics of Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh

EC to begin 3-day mop up registration exercise on August 1

Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of operations Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of operations

The Electoral Commission (EC) will from Thursday, August 1 to Saturday, August 3, 2024, conduct a mop-up voter registration exercise at all its 268 district offices across the country.

The exercise, which is also expected to take place in 26 public universities and 41 prison centres, will begin from 7 AM to 6 PM each day.

The exercise will be conducted online as well.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Monday, the Deputy Chairperson in Charge of Operations of the EC, Samuel Tettey, said the move was to give opportunity for individuals who just turned 18 years old to exercise their franchise during the December 7 general elections.

He indicated that eligible applicants were expected to use their Ghana card or passports, which were the required documents to ensure eligibility to register.

Mr. Tettey further indicated that already registered voters could guarantee for ten persons.

However, he said that registered voters could only guarantee for ten persons, adding that “newly registered voters are not qualified to guarantee for anyone.”

He stressed that the registration process was only open to Ghanaian residents or those residing within the districts.

Political parties, Mr. Tettey said, “are allowed to send their agents to observe the registration process, but must educate their members on how to conduct themselves at the registration centres.”

According to him, the police had been informed of the exercise and would provide adequate security at the registration centres.

He urged the applicants to conduct themselves properly during the registration process.

Mr. Tettey also advised parents not to allow their children below 18 years to attempt registering, adding that the registration process was for only those who had not yet registered.

He noted that the exhibition of the voter register would take place from August 20 to August 27 after the mop-up exercise to allow all registered voters to check whether their names had been captured in the voters register.

The EC, Mr. Tettey said, has had an intensive engagement with MTN Ghana for assured internet connectivity and explained that in case of internet challenges, it would resort to the manual registration process.

He urged all political parties to be abreast with the rules of the registration process in order to have a credit and transparent voter register to ensure a peaceful election in December this year.

He indicated that so far, a provisional figure of 18,681,366 eligible voters had been captured in the voter register and was expecting 50,000 to 70,000 eligible voters to register during the mop-up exercise.