Politics of Friday, 3 July 2020

Source: starrfm.com.gh

EC likely to use provisional register for December polls – Haruna Iddrisu

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

The Electoral Commission is seeking to use a provisional voters’ register for the December 7 elections contrary to provisions of the CI 94 used for previous elections.

CI 94 requires only certified register to be used for polls.

In a new CI ‘public elections regulation 2020’ laid in parliament Thursday, the Commission has amended the definition of a voter to read ‘any person whose name appears on the provisional voters’register.

Addressing the media in parliament, minority leader Haruna Iddrisu argued the move speaks to the ill-preparedness of the Commission.

The Tamale South MP warned many voters’ whose registration will be challenged risk having their names expunged without avenue for redress.

“The new instrument that has been laid, public elections regulation 2020, which has just been laid by the majority leader on behalf of the independent electoral commission published under article 45, my reading of it gives me much to be concerned about and to state authoritatively without fear of contradiction that the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections of Ghana is likely to run on a provisional voter register and not a certified final register.

“Because in the definition column of the newly introduced regulation, public elections regulation which replaces CI 94, a registered voter in it is defined as ‘register voter means a person whose name appears on the provisional voters register’, not as it was in CI 94 as certified final register.”

He added, “it means that the electoral commission is running bind time”.