The Electoral Commission (EC) has been sued for its failure to provide a copy of the provisional voters register to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Chairman of the NDC Samuel Ofosu Ampofo argued Thursday that the EC has contravened regulation 22(2) of the Public Elections Regulations (Voter Registration) C.I.91 which requires the EC to furnish political parties with a copy of the provisional register.
It states “‘At the end of the compilation of the provisional register as provided in sub-regulation (1), a copy of the provisional register shall be given to each registered political party in the form determined by the Commission”.
But Mr Ampofo told a news conference in Accra Thursday that the EC failed to provide the NDC a copy of the current provisional register which is being exhibited across the country for people to check their details and make changes where necessary.
“We have only one day left for the exhibition of the voters’ register to close. Yet, the Jean Mensah and Bossman Asare team has not provided the NDC with a copy of the 2019 provisional register as required by law,” Mr Ampofo claimed.
The chairman alleged “the EC has selectively made copies of the provisional register available to the NPP”.
“But in our case, despite repeated requests and reminders we have to date no received any. In the circumstances, we have been compelled to go to court for an order directed at the Jean Mensah-Bossman Asare Commission to, among others, give us copies of the register as required by law,” he explained.
According to Mr Ampofo, the absence of the register has greatly hampered the party’s effort at monitoring the voter exhibition exercise.
He said never in the electoral history of the fourth republic has the NDC experienced “such blatant dereliction of duty” and “covert manipulation by the EC” to give unfair advantage to incumbent government
NDC creating ‘erroneous impression’
But the EC in a statement to respond to the issues said are only “calculated and targeted” to create an “erroneous impression” about the EC and to cause “disaffection” between the EC leadership and the public.
The EC said it would have expected the NDC “to use dialogue channels open and available” or other established lines of communication to address their concerns.
“It is unfortunate that the NDC continues to use the medium of the media to raise concerns which can easily be resolved after deliberations with the Electoral Commission,” the EC said
The NDC has on various platforms accused the EC of flaws in the provisional voters register.
It is important to emphasize that the essence of the exhibition exercise is to afford all registered voters the opportunity to check and verify their names and particulars, so as to make corrections, to mistakes on their details.