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Voters' register not bloated - EC
Accra, June 10, Ghanadot/GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC)
on Tuesday denied allegations by the main opposition
National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Voters' Register
was bloated in 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region.
However, the Commission admitted that there were operational
errors in the generation of the Voters' statistics supplied
to the NDC that made them to declare that the Register was
bloated.
"The figures which formed the basis of the allegation of a
bloated Register, do not exist either on the Commission's
own compact version of the Voters' Register or on the
CD-ROMs given to the NDC," the EC said.
"Rather, they exist on the hard copies of the Voters'
statistics that the NDC received, and are traceable to an
operational error in the generation of the statistics,"
Electoral Commissioner Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said at a press
conference in Accra.
The NDC last year applied to the EC at separate times for a
copy of the Voters' Register. The EC in one instance
supplied the NDC with the Register in the form of hard
copies of the Voters' statistics and at another time, the
compact version of the Voters' Register without pictures on
a CD-ROM.
The NDC later alleged that the number of registered voters
in 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region had increased
tremendously between 2004 and 2006, prompting the EC to set
up a Committee to investigate the discrepancies between the
figures of the NDC and that of the EC.
But Dr Afari-Gyan insisted that the discrepancy in the
figures was as a result of operational error during the
printing process, and that "the huge numbers the NDC
complains about do not exist in our database".
"What this means is that the EC's voter registration
database, from which we produce the register for elections,
is intact and does not contain strange figures.
"The issue is that of human error, but what is important is
that such errors do not exist in our database and I assure
you there would be no errors on the Register on the day of
voting," he told the media.
Dr Afari-Gyan expressed regrets on comments made by
politicians and the media on the issue, describing them as
"hurried, uninformed and premature statements and
judgments".
"All we ask for is that such matters be brought to our
attention in good faith, with a view to preserving the
integrity of the Register. The Register belongs to the
people of Ghana, and all of us share a collective
responsibility to ensure that the Register is in good shape.
"We assure all Ghanaians that as a Commission, we will do
our work in a transparent and fair manner, without favour to
any party or candidate. In return, we hope that all
political parties and candidates, their activists and
supporters, the media,
commentators and the
people at large will behave responsibly so that we have
credible general election on 7th December 2008," he said.
GNA
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