Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Jean Mensah has justified the decision to publish full details of persons captured in the electoral roll.

She argued that the Commission breached no law because they are mandated by law to publicly put out the details of registered voters.

She made these comments as part of her opening remarks at a media training for journalists on electoral reporting in Accra.

This comes on the back of the divided opinion that greeted a widely shared Google Drive link containing a list of Ghanaians eligible to exercise their franchise in the December polls.

The details included voters’ names, ages, polling centers as well as ID numbers.

A section of the public also raised concerns about data protection that may potentially arise.

But Jean Mensah has fought off the claims adding that “C.I. 127 requires that the provisional voters register is published on our website.”

“That same law states that the final register is published in a manner that the Commission deems fit,” she said on Tuesday.

According to her, the development will also ensure transparency in the electoral process.

She also revealed that the list has been temporarily pulled down to allow for an upgrade with more enhanced functionalities before subsequently reloading it “in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, Vice President of IMANI Africa has refuted claims that the Electoral Commission had the automatic right to make public details of electorates.

Kofi Bentil said the laws that allow the Commission to publish the voters’ roll (in the manner determined by the Commission) also requires the EC to exercise “a careful discretion” in putting out such details.

“It is not true that the Electoral Commission has the automatic right to do this. There is no express authorisation for them to do this.

“The law is clear that, they should decide how they are going to put out the data but that decision is also subject to other laws,” he said.