The Electoral Commission (EC) has assured political parties of a transparent biometric registration exercise ahead of the 2012 general elections. The Commission says it welcomes all the concerns raised by some political parties notably the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC) and is working assiduously to address them. The NPP and PNC walked out of a meeting by the EC for political parties to observe the biometric registration process and also to inspect a new biometric technology it intends using for next year's general elections. The representatives of the PNC and NPP who boycotted the meeting said the EC had circumvented procurement procedures and also the Commission did not allow the political parties present to make any comment – but just to observe. However, the leadership of the NPP and PNC have written to the EC demanding they summon Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting (IPAC) to address their concerns. But on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Monday, Director of Public Affairs of EC, Christian Owusu Parry allayed the fears of the opposition political parties who argued that an opaque biometric exercise could undermine the 2012 elections. He said the EC holds it dignity as a credible institution, hence it would not allow any political party to use them for its parochial interest. Mr. Owusu Parry noted that the EC is open to criticisms from all stakeholders especially on the biometric registration process since it is a new introduction to Ghana’s electoral process. He called on all political parties to help the EC in educating their members on how the biometric system works to ensure an incident-free biometric registration exercise across the country. Mr. Owusu Parry promised an imminent IPAC meeting; an avenue he believes produces brilliant ideas by the political parties in nurturing Ghana’s democracy for a peaceful elections in 2012. The EC PRO was optimistic the Commission would beat the deadline of registering all eligible voters before close of the year. “We are going to court tomorrow to argue out our case and hopefully the court we believe would give a ruling and then we would continue with the procurement process and we will announce a date for the start for registration,” he added. Mr. Owusu Parry urged all political parties to also contribute their quota for a peaceful transparent parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012.