Politics of Saturday, 22 June 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Minority Leader urges EC to publish registered voters daily

Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu

Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to on daily basis publish the total number of people registered as part of the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.

He said this would ensure credibility and transparency in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise across the country.

He said the Constitutional Instrument 91 (CI 91) on Public Elections Regulation 2016 stipulated that the EC should provide details of the outcome of the voter registration exercise to all political parties as well as the public in the country.

He made the appeal on Thursday when he visited the Tamale Metropolitan Office of the EC to assess the ongoing limited voter registration exercise in the area.

He said a credible and reliable voter register was essential to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country.

Mr Iddrisu, following the recent challenges and other issues arising from the registration of voters online and offline at some registration centres in the country, urged the EC to factor in recommendations made in Parliament by the Minority on the need for the EC to upgrade its National Data Centre.

Mr Iddrisu said the EC's National Data Centre was facing challenges and could not accommodate further data if not upgraded.

He said the Minority at the Special Budget Committee level of Parliament, had made adequate recommendations on the need to improve on the EC's National Data Centre since 2017, but added that its recommendations had not been considered.

He said the Bimbilla Municipal had five voter registration centres as against the Tamale South and Tamale Central.

He, therefore, appealed to the EC to open more registration centres in the Tamale South and Tamale Central Constituencies to reduce the pressure on the existing centres.

Meanwhile, the limited voter registration exercise at the Tamale Metropolitan Office of the EC office was going on smoothly.