Voter Registration challenges: Afenyo-Markin calls on EC to have backup plan

The Majority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament and Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency in the central region, Mr. Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to devise a contingency plan to tackle the widespread challenges plaguing the ongoing limited voter registration exercise across the country.

The registration exercise, which is in its fourth day, has been fraught with technical difficulties, including bad network connections and power outages leading to many first-time registrants being unable to register.

Following his visit to some voter registration centres in his constituency, Mr. Afenyo-Markin emphasised the need for the EC to have a backup plan to ensure every eligible voter is registered before the process ends.

“The Electoral Commission must improve on its system of registration. Obviously, if we are all talking about network failures, then I am not sure that they will be able to complete on schedule. The frustrations and delays must be addressed.

"So I am urging the Electoral Commission to ensure that they have a backup system because, as it is, the frustrations are one too many. And I would encourage the Electoral Commission to live up to expectations,” he emphasised.