The Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters’ Register has expressed its disappointment in the conduct of the Electoral Commission (EC) after the near brawl and inconclusive deliberations at the Coconut Grove Hotel.

In a statement, the Resistance said they found the EC’s statement after the briefing “purporting to cast a verdict on the discussions in favour of the EC” disrespectful. 

They said it was contemptuous as they were expecting the Eminent Advisory Committee to release a communiqué, read and agreed upon by stakeholders in the meeting.

“As if that was not enough, today we saw a publication in the newspapers, announcing the recruitment of electoral officers for the compilation of a new register even before the EAC could make any further advise.

“This, in the view of the Resistance, is tantamount to gross disdain and disregard for the ECs own Eminent Advisory Committee and all stakeholders involved in the deliberations,” the statement read.

In the statement signed by Bernard Mornah on behalf of the coalition, he said the EC also going ahead to release the date for the commencement of the registration exercise before the dialogue of the issue was “an act of bad faith to all the stakeholders but also an act of utter disrespect to the ECs own establishment, the Eminent Advisory Committee.”

They find it strange that several hours after the dialogue had ended and the EAC is yet to release the agreed upon communiqué, a ‘deceptive and misleading verdict’ has been released by the EC.

They suspect the EAC is being misled by the Electoral Commission.

“This points to the fact that the EC could be misleading the Eminent Advisor and using them to advance a parochial interest of embarking of this wasteful self-serving expedition. Clearly, we were not invited to advance a consensus at all,” the statement said.

They are, therefore, calling on the EAC “in the interest of transparency and fairness” to release the agreed communiqué and take steps to proceed with the content as agreed.

“For the avoidance of doubt we agreed, the meeting was inconclusive and that the avenue for continuous dialogue should be opened so as to allow Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register parties to arrive at a consensus and whiles at it, a platform should be created for technical teams of the political parties to engage with the EC technical team,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the inter-party coalition says their public manifestations shall continue with a march to the EC on Tuesday.

The march will begin from the Kawukudi Park, Accra and continue through Kanda to the EC and to the Liberation Circle (Children’s Park).

They are, therefore, calling on the general public to join in the march “to defend and protect our democracy and the integrity of our electoral process.”