The opposition National Democratic Congress has raised concerns about the electoral register of the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency ahead of the January 31 by-elections.

According to the party, they made a request to the Electoral Commission to be furnished with the electoral register which was done.

However, at their observation during the bagging of materials for the by-elections they noticed the number of voters at each polling station has been increased.

They want the EC to furnish them with the 2016 electoral roll.

Read their full release below

REFUSAL OF ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO PROVIDE NDC WITH DETAILS OF VOTERS REGISTER FOR THE AYAWASO WEST WUOGON CONSTITUENCY

The Jean Mensah-led Electoral Commission appears to be determined to frustrate the NDC in the impending Ayawaso West Wuogon By-election in which the NDC is participating. We hold this view due to the unreasonable refusal of the EC to furnish the NDC with the details of the Voters Register for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.

The NDC wrote to the EC sometime in December 2018 for the updated Voters Register of the Constituency used in the 2016 General Elections. The EC responded to the request on 28th December 2018 and gave the Party a soft copy of the Voters’ Register with a voter population of 87,580.

The said register was still in the custody of the NDC when the party went to the printing house to observe the bagging of the Electoral materials. It was at this point that the party discovered that virtually every polling station in the register about to be used for the bye election had additions to the voters list. Putting all the additions together, there was a new total of 88,745 giving a difference of 1165 more than that which had been given to the party earlier. The NDC immediately raised objection to the use of the said register in the conduct of the By-election unless the Party received some satisfactory explanation from the EC.

Subsequently, the Party wrote to the EC for further and better particulars regarding the voters’ register used for the 2016 elections, by requesting for the following information:

a.         The transfer voters list

b.         The special voters list

c.         The proxy voters list

To the utter surprise of the Party, the EC has refused to furnish it with these details and not even a follow up to the Headquarters of the EC today, 28th January 2019, has yielded the required response. Meanwhile time is running out as the election is only 3 days away.

The NDC has serious issues with the EC. There are two different Registers for one election with a difference of 1,165 voters. The EC must tell the Party why this wide difference in the two registers from the same EC. The NDC finds this situation completely unacceptable and until the matter is resolved we have difficulty in participating in the by-election. In the circumstances, if the EC does not respond to our concerns we shall advise ourselves accordingly.

SDN:

COMRADE BEDE ZIEDENG

DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS