NPP calls for extension of re-registration exercise

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend the ten-day re-registration of persons whose names have been deleted from the voters’ register.

At a press conference on Monday, the Ashanti Region Secretary of the NPP, Sam Pyne, said thousands of Ghanaians would be disenfranchised if the exercise is not extended.

“The EC never came out to give education on the time frame because when they announced that they were going to do the exhibition, they said 21 days,” he said.

Mr. Pyne said the change in the duration of the exercise from 21 days to 10 days has contributed to low turnout for the re-registration process.

“A lot of people thought that even if you were going to re-register, it is going to be within the 21 days therefore a lot of people have slowed down in even going to do the registration, meanwhile they are doing it to for 10-days, and this is the eighth day,” he adds.

The EC has revealed that only 14,801 persons of the 56,772 whose names were deleted from the voters’ register, have re-registered in the ongoing voters’ register exhibition exercise.

The low turnout has been partly blamed on the supposed poor publicity of the re-registration exercise.

“We as a political party are calling on the Electoral Commission to extend the registration period for the re-registration, so those affected can get their names back on the register,” Mr Pyne said.

He also suggested that the re-registration exercise should run concurrently with the 21-day exhibition process.

The re-registration process ends on Thursday July 28, 2016,

The EC deleted the names of some 56,772 voters from the electoral roll following a Supreme Court directive.

The Court said these voters used the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card to register to vote, a process it deemed unconstitutional.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN