By Monitoring Desk
All the political parties, presidential candidates, civil society organisations (CSOs), and donor partners that met the Electoral Commission (EC) at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, yesterday 1, 2024, under the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) framework, were unanimous in their inference that the EC has past the fitness test to conduct the 7 December election across the country.
The special meeting was aimed at addressing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other minority parties’ concerns over the 2024 Voters Register, following repeated calls from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for a Forensic Audit of the Provisional Voters Register (PVR).
The CPP, GFP, LPG and the flagbearer of the ACP, Hassan Ayariga were particularly amazed at how the EC has been a listening commission and congratulated the Commissioner for being so robust and resolute and the matters of the PVR.
The Public would recall that on Tuesday, 17th September, 2024, the NDC embarked on a demonstration after which they submitted a petition to the EC which demanded, among others, a Forensic Audit of the PVR. The EC responded to the NDC’s petition in a letter dated 26th September, 2024, saying among others, that, “…the Commission is of the view that the legal and administrative processes laid down to clean the PVR have not been fully exhausted to justify the calls for a Forensic Audit.”
The Commission however, in the interest of transparency and in pursuit of peaceful, free, fair and credible Elections, called for this Special IPAC meeting which took place yesterday, 1 October, 2024 and for the first time was covered live by TV and radio networks across the country.
Addressing the Special IPAC, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, pointed out that the Special IPAC Meeting was to provide update on the process to clean the PVR and to receive input from the political parties, and that all subsequent IPAC meetings will be covered by the media.
She also stressed that all identified discrepancies following the Exhibition of the PVR have been largely resolved, and that the discrepancies initially identified cut across all regions, not just in any particular region to disenfranchise voters in a particular region.
The Register at this point is only provisional, a draft, which not perfect and it is not final, according to the EC, but the PVR as it is now is different and more accurate than what was provided to the political parties in August 2024.
Mrs. Jean Mensa also stressed Production of the Final Voters Register is a process, not a one-time event. As we speak, District Officers are currently implementing decisions of District Registration Review Officers (DRROs). After that process, there will be verification of the implementation of DRROs decisions by the Regional Directorate.
The Commission, she disclosed, would re-exhibit the corrected PVR online via the short code *711*51# and urged voters to check their details free of charge.
“The Commission will announce a time period during which Political Parties, Voters and other Stakeholders may report any further discrepancies in the corrected PVR, before the Final Voters Register is printed for the 2024 Elections. The Commission will provide copies of the corrected PVR to the Political Parties and also provide them with a template that they can use to report any further discrepancies,” she added.
More so, a total of 18, 772,795 valid voters are expected to participate in the upcoming December general elections, according to provisional statistics released by the Electoral Commission (EC). Of this number, 9,690,173 are females, while 9,082,622 are males.
The data also revealed that 708,282 new voters have been added to the electoral roll for the December elections.
Additionally, there are 332,110 transferred voters, 2,167 proxy voters, 32,974 applicants on the exceptions list, and 26,798 applicants on the multiples list.
The Commission also disclosed that “Missing Voters List will be made available at the Polling Stations. The Form 1A and Form 1C of the affected voters will be available at the Polling Stations so that if they show up with their voter ID cards and the cards match their Form 1A and Form 1C details, they will be allowed to vote.”
In attendance were all registered political parties (NDC, NPP, CPP, LPG, GFP, GCPP, PAG, NDP, APC, GUM, PNC, PPP), CSOs, members of the diplomatic community and other Stakeholders, including the media.
