A senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana has backed calls for the Electoral Commission to conduct the December general elections with the existing voters’ register.

Dr Kwame Asah Asante said the EC should not be shy about beating a retreat after emphatically saying the register is not fit for purpose.

According to him, those who have spoken against the compilation of a new register are well-meaning Ghanaians and not just doing out of political expedience.

“They love Ghana and want things to go on well,” said Dr Asante said.

He also argued going ahead with the mass registration amid the Covid-19 pandemic also poses a health threat and “the best way out is use the old register.”

But the EC says the only sure way of guaranteeing a free and fair election is to compile a new credible register.

The Commission says the existing register is over stretched.

The current voter management system has exhausted its lifespan and most of the devices used to run it have broken down, the EC argues.

The elections governing body says repairing them would come at the higher cost to the taxpayer than procuring a new and enhanced system.

But the biggest opposition party is unrepentant in its belief that the register compiled eight years ago is still fit for purpose.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the EC’s course to replace the roll is a calculated attempt to disenfranchise millions of Ghanaians and a “grand scheme to rig the elections in favour of President Akufo-Addo.”

The EC has additionally incurred more wrath from the NDC for limiting the primary documents required to enroll on the new register to the Ghana card and a Ghanaian passport.

The party argues less than ten million Ghanaians combined have either the two documents, some of whom are minors.

But the EC says this lacuna can be solved by using guarantors for those without any of the documents.

But the NDC remains adamant.

The two stakeholders faced off in the Supreme Court on Thursday on the issue.