Civil Society group, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has raised red flags that the new voters register compiled by the Electoral Commission for the 2020 elections is not fit for purpose because it is bloated.
Its Executive Director, Mensah Thompson, points out that the register is bloated by more than 1million votes.
“16.9 millio.n, and now the EC says we have over 17 million people. Where is the gap from?” Mensah Thompson asked in a radio interview monitored by WhatsUp News.
He adds that, “this voters’ register is bloated and it must be authenticated. Every person on it must be validated before the 2020 elections.”
The CSO’s declaration comes amidst the bandying about different figures by the leadership of the Electoral Commission. Immediately after the registration had been completed, Deputy EC Chair, Dr. Bossman Asare had announced that the EC had registered just a little over 16million.
Then during verification, many of the names on the register magically vanished from it. The EC, as part of a rather questionable salvage attempt has been restoring the name in piecemeal fashion with some registrants told that they can only verify their registration on Election Day.
“As we are speaking we cannot authenticate the numbers because we have seen people in some corner printing ID cards and the number of people on this voters’ register does not seem to reflect the entire representation of the people,” Mensah Thompson said.
He has called for a thorough audit of the register 63 days to elections. According to Mensah Thompson, ASEPA has compiled egregious violations that it will present to observers who will attend to the 20202 elections.