2020 General Elections In Limbo As EC Postpones Voter Registration

An adamant Electoral Commission (EC) has been forced to postpone its controversial plan to compile a new voter register following the inherently deadly threat posed by the rampaging Covid-19 coronavirus.

Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services at the EC told journalists after a turbulent Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting today, Wednesday, March 25, 2020.

This development has put the timeline of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in limbo as the EC had insisted, before  the Covid-19 outbreak, that it was sticking to a strict schedule which would have meant an April 18, 2020 commencement of a voter register and afterwards, several other processes leading to the general elections in December 2020.

As it stands currently, authorities cannot say for sure how the ravaging incurable Covid-19 will pan out. There is no confirmed treatment nor vaccine in sight for the highly contagious human-to-human viral infection that attacks the upper respiratory system of its victims and kills unlucky patients within one month.

Meanwhile, President Akufo Addo has banned mass gathering exceeding more than 25 people-a situation that threatens the ability of the country to organise elections if no cure is found before December this year.

According to a crestfallen Dr. Quaicoe, the EC that the outfit is now seeking recommendations from health experts to decide on a more favourable date to commence the multi-million-dollar new voter register compilation.

“We had planned to do the registration on the 18th but because of the pandemic, we can’t do it on the 18th, so, we are observing what is happening around Ghana and the global issue…so, when it gets to a time that we think the situation is fertile for us to commence with the registration then we can do it,” she explained.

The new voter registration exercise which is estimated to set the country back by over GHS 390 million, had faced widespread criticism as an unnecessary move by the EC, because the register it sought to replace had been proven to be credible.

However, the EC has stood its ground and insisted on trashing the old register for a new one: “We have made it very clear that the current biometric system is not good enough for future activities. We are having a lot of challenges with it. In addition to that, a lot of people have found it difficult to have their fingerprints picked up by the machine so we intend to introduce the facial recognition [option] in addition so that if your fingerprint fails, your image will be used for verification,” Dr. Quaicoe stated.