Convener for the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), David Asante says without the new voters’ register many Ghanaians would be disenfranchised during the December 7 polls.
Speaking on Newsfile, he said research conducted by LMVCA showed that names of persons who used the NHIA cards as proof of identity when registering for the voters' ID, had been wiped out from the Electoral Commission’s system.
According to him, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2016 that NHIA cards should not be used as proof of identity, 56,000 names along with their information were deleted from the EC's database.
Clarifying his stance to host, Samson Anyenini Lardy, he said that although EC took steps to re-register these people as ordered by the Supreme Court, about 27000 persons failed to show up.
“So these people have ID cards alright but their IDs are not in the EC's database. On the day of election they would be denied access to voting, a terrible situation awaiting,” he said.
To avoid having that many Ghanaians being disenfranchised, compiling a new voters’ register would help rectify the issue, Mr Asante said.
He added that it is also impossible to use the voters' ID card as a means of identification for the new register because many of the canceled old cards are still in circulation.
He revealed that some financial institutions record five to eight person’s cards being rejected after it was run through the database of the EC during a business transaction.
“There are too many hitched lingering around the credibility of the electoral roll," Mr Asante said.
He highlighted other problems including the creation of six news regions which has affected the coding system of over seven million ID cards.
“If over 7 million voters IDs are to be recalled and replaced when we have registered a little over 16 million Ghanaians, while the former EC boss recorded a little over 12 million turning out to vote, then over 57% of the voters who voted in 2016; the probability is that they will have challenges at the polling station coming this December.”
Mr Asante said that having over 57% being disenfranchised is so daring that the only way out according to their findings is to “do a new voters register.”
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