Release provisional voter register now – NDC to EC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is demanding that the Electoral Commission (EC) release the provisional voter register for the December 7 general elections to political parties ahead of the exhibition exercise.

Director of Elections for the NDC, Dr Omane Boamah, said in a post on Facebook, that the delay in the prompt release of the register is due to the EC’s incompetence and a deliberate attempt to provide a sub-standard register to political parties

Omane Boamah in a write-up warned that the delay has left the NDC and other stakeholders “deeply concerned that the posturing and incompetence of the EC and its IT Department can plunge Ghana into anarchy if not remedied immediately.”

Below is the full statement.

The EC must release the Provisional Voter Register (PVR) now!

With just six (6) days to the 2024 EXHIBITION of the Provisional Voter Register (PVR), political parties are yet to receive the register.

We strongly believe this lack of promptness exhibited by the EC is due to both incompetence and a deliberate attempt to dump a sub-standard Provisional Voter Register on political parties in a short period, to make it difficult for interested parties to critically peruse the register before the Exhibition starts, next week.

The EC wrote to the NDC on July 18, 2024, requesting that we bring an external drive (2 terabytes) for the PVR to be loaded for us.

We responded to their request by submitting the external drive with additional requests for all 16 regional register code books.

Unfortunately, for well over two weeks, the EC refused to honour their obligation per CI 91 as amended by CI 126.

Caught with this, the EC surprisingly wrote to us on the 8th of August 2024, now saying they will release the PVR on the 14th of August 2024, six clear days before the exhibition exercise, which starts next week on the 20th of August 2024.

This is grossly unfair!

To make matters worse, we are told that today (the 14th of August), we will not receive the Provisional Voter Register until Friday, August 16th, 2024. Leaving us with only six (6) days to package and dispatch the register to the over 38,000 Polling stations across Ghana to aid in pre-exhibition scrutiny of the register.

We are aware of the dysfunctional IT Department of the EC, for which we earlier called on the UNDP (@IPAC) to extend a helping hand.

The EC has refused and has since not followed up with the UNDP for technical support. Yet, the (deliberate) mistakes keep recurring.

We are deeply concerned that the posturing and incompetence of the EC and its IT Department can plunge Ghana into anarchy if not remedied immediately.

Recall the chaotic 2023 District Assembly Elections, the recent network failures during the Limited Registration Exercise, as well as transfers and proxies.

These have exposed the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of the EC.

This deliberate attempt to disturb the electoral roll to benefit one political party will be resisted!

Already, the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits stolen at the headquarters of the Electoral Commission under CCTV surveillance have not been found. Have the stolen BVR kits been used to dump illegally registered voters onto the voter register?

The sanctity of our electoral system must be upheld at all times, irrespective of who is in power!

We call on CSOs, religious bodies, and diplomatic missions to take an interest in the activities of this current EC because, (beyond verbal assurances) the Commission is not showing a commitment to deliver credible elections on December 7, 2024.

The EC must release the Provisional Voter Register now!