A Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, has reaffirmed the credibility and authenticity of the 2024 voters register ahead of the December polls.

Addressing concerns about the credibility of the voters register raised by key stakeholders, while speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues on September 29, 2024, Dr. Bossman Asare stated that the commission adheres to a set of regulations that provides a framework for auditing the voters register, ensuring its credibility and robustness.

He explained that the processes outlined in the regulations have yet to be exhausted, which is why they rejected the request for a third-party audit.

“We have maintained that all along, largely because the CI we are using for registration which is CI 91 as amended by CI 126, when you look at regulations 23 and 24, both of them provide a proper framework for auditing the voters register, and those processes have not been exhausted.

“As a commission, we know that it is what the law allows so we need to use that to be able to ensure we have a register that is clean, robust, and credible for the 2024 general election,” he said.

According to Dr. Bossman Asare, this isn't the first time the electoral body has used these procedures to clean the voters register of errors, adding that the same methods were employed during the 2020 general elections, making it a familiar outcome.

“We used that same approach to be able to clean the register in 2020 so we are not doing something which is strange or has not been done before. The two regulations spell out what you do after registration. The law is very clear that after you have registered people you have to display the register.

“… the register is a solid document, credible and authentic. The register is a good one but the auditing is being done through the exhibition process and this is something the law has provided for,” he assured.

The Electoral Commission has rejected the NDC’s call for a forensic audit of the voters register.

However, the commission announced that it will re-exhibit the register online, following the corrections made.

MAG/AE