According to the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), not more than 25 people, including EC officials, will be allowed at centres when they start the mass registration exercise.
Sylvia Annor, the Communications Director of the EC, said the commission would institute all necessary safety protocols to protect Ghanaians against the COVID-19 pandemic while undertaking the mass voter registration exercise.
Speaking on an Accra-based radio station, the EC’s director of communication said “At each point in time we will ensure that we do not have more than 25 persons including the officials at any registration centre”.
She further listed some of the measures needed to be adhered to during the exercise.
“People coming to register will be given hand sanitizer before they enter the registration centre, you need to wear a face mask, without a face mask, you cannot enter a registration centre. There will be no crowding at the registration centre, I can assure you”.
She also reaffirmed the EC’s position on its decision to exclude the existing voter’s ID Card as a proof of registration during the exercise.
“We are not using the old voters’ ID card, the voters’ ID card, some people argue, is not a good index for identification. It’s an established fact that the ID card is not a good index for proof of identification,” Sylvia Annor said.
Many political parties, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which is the largest opposition political party, have been on a campaign against the EC’s decision to compile a new voters’ register for the 2020 general elections.
Inter-Party Resistance Against a New Voters’ Register (IPRNA) , a group of opposition parties, organised series of demonstrations dubbed “Yenpene Demonstration” to compel the EC to drop its plans.
Also wading into the conversation were a coalition of Civil Society Organizations saying there was no need for a new voter roll.
The EC, despite these stiff opposition, insists the exercise must be carried out.
The NDC has accused the EC and the National Identification Authority to be on an agenda to suppress votes in the strongholds of the party.
The National Chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, addressing a news conference last week, alleged that the decision of the EC to push for the Ghana Card, birth certificate and passport as the primary documents required to register during the voters’ registration exercise was part of a grand scheme to rig the 2020 elections in favour of the governing NPP.
The EC and NIA have refuted the allegations.
