The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is charging the Electoral Commission to maintain and enforce the 'no verification, no vote' principle ahead of the 2016 elections.

The principle, the IEA believes would provide the necessary authentication for prospective voters and increase election results credibility.

The recommendation is part of conclusions arrived at during an IEA organised workshop which saw representations from political parties and other stakeholders.

A report presented after the workshop by Dr Ransford Gyampo, a Research Fellow at the Institute said "there must be authentication of finger prints before a person is allowed to vote."

Given the technological challenges experienced during the 2012 elections part of which became the subject of an election petition, Dr Gyampo said measures should be taken to ensure that qualified voters are not disenfranchised through no fault of theirs.

"...Having regard to the third world conditions that prevail in Ghana, there will be challenges with technology for some time to come. In this regard, there is likely to be recurrent instances of qualified voters not being biometrically verified due to failure of technology. Notwithstanding the need to maintain and enforce the N.V.N.V. rule, we should also think of amending CI.75 to provide for a window of opportunity for a qualified voter who cannot, due to no fault of his, be verified to be enabled to vote. This may take the form of the Presiding Officers as well as ALL Candidates or their Representatives signing a verification document to enable the voter to vote," the report indicated.