COVID-19: Find other ways to compile new register – CDD urges EC

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is urging to the Electoral Commission to find other ways to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.

Its Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement, Dr. Kojo Asante, noted that if the Coronavirus pandemic persists beyond the month of May, the EC will be left with very little room to roll out its full calendar including the compilation of a new register.

The Electoral Commission has been forced to suspend indefinitely plans to compile a new voters register which was scheduled to begin on April 18th.

“By the time you take nominations [from political parties], you are close to October or the end of October. That is the reality you are dealing with. And that is why I make the point that if you can’t compile the register by May then really you have to look at alternatives to actually compiling a new register,” Dr Kojo Asante said in a Citi News interview.

The EC has said it is collaborating with health experts to decide on a more favourable date depending on the prevalence rate of the virus.

The virus, which has infected 636 persons across 10 regions, has prompted a ban on public gatherings and a partial lockdown of Accra, Kasoa, Kumasi and Tema.

Nonetheless, a lawyer and member of the Council of State, Sam Okudzeto, has urged the EC to start the voters’ registration exercise outside the partial lockdown.

“Our cases of the Coronavirus is not as dramatic as it is in many countries which means that we only have few pockets in the two big municipalities and few of the smaller ones. So since the lockdown is not the whole of Ghana, the EC should start the registration in the areas there is on lockdown and that would have covered a large chunk of the country,” he said.

Why the new registration?

The EC wants the electoral roll used on the election day to be more credible and efficient than the existing one and has moved to procure a new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS).

This is to replace its biometric machines to better address verification challenges that could occur during elections.

A key new feature the EC cited is the introduction of a facial recognition option in addition to fingerprint verification.

The EC first made the announcement of plans for a new register on March 27, 2019, and has been granted GHS390 million to carry out a registration exercise over a period of 50 days.

It also plans to make the Ghana Card and passport the only acceptable identification for the upcoming voter registration.

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