Three regions namely the Ashanti, Greater Accra and the Northern Regions recorded the highest number of registrants at the just ended Electoral Commission (EC)’s Limited Biometric Voter Registration exercise.

According to the EC’s provisional registration statistics, at the end of the 10-day registration exercise, the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of registrants with 186,895 eligible voters registering.

This was followed by the Greater Accra Region with 162,709 registrants and the Northern Region with 124,561 registrants.

The exercise which commenced on April 28 and ended on May 8 has been criticised for many cases of violence which characterised it.

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) registered minors during the exercise. This was dismissed by NPP which claimed some government officials used thugs to put fear in potential registrants in areas it considers “World bank”.

Another well-publicized infraction of the exercise was the case involving the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, also known as “Chairman Wontumi” who was declared wanted by the Ashanti Regional Police Command after he assaulted the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia North, Collins Amankwah, as well as the Manhyia North NPP Constituency Secretary, Felix Ibrahim.

Many people also chided the EC for the poor publicity leading to the exercise and during the exercise. Political parties, lecturers and political analysts predicted the exercise would not be able to register many potential voters who are 18-years and above.

However, the 2016 provisional registration statistics said 1,105,686 persons registered throughout the country at the end of the exercise.

The number of applicants whose registration process was challenged in the course of the exercise was 18,984.