NPP Gen Sec John Boadu addresses the press
The governing New Patriotic Party says the outcome of the newly compiled voters’ register has vindicated its long-standing claim that the old register was defective, bloated and not fit for purpose.
The party recalls that even though findings from the VCRAC Crabbe Committee, a committee constituted by the EC, then under Charlotte Osei, agreed with it, the EC still rejected the call for a new register.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the party’s General Secretary, John Boadu, stated that following the EC’s decision to change its own position and compile a new register, “the numbers that have come out of the new register confirm the long held position that the old register was bloated.”
Over 3 million in excess
The Electoral Commission at its latest ‘Citizens Must Know’ series noted that the current register, before the weekend’s mop-up exercise, had a total of 16,845,420 voters. This is aside the 797,493 people quarantined and those on the duplicates/multiples and exceptions lists. According to the EC, when all of these are added, the overall total will be a little over 17.6 million.
The Commission contends that had it maintained the old register and conducted a limited registration exercise in all electoral areas and registration centres across the country, “we would have estimated to conservatively add about 2million Ghanaians on to the existing register.”
“Potentially, without the compilation of a new voters’ register, the Commission was on track to register some 19 million people plus another 800,000 people who remain on the multiple and exceptions lists who previously were denied the right to vote.
“This would have given us a total number of almost 19.6 million persons, approximately 20 million, had we maintained the old register and conducted the limited registration exercise, as compared to the current figure of 16.63 million, some three million difference,” the EC said.
According to the NPP, “in a country where the outcome of general elections have sometimes been determined by less than 50, 000 votes, 3,000,000 illegal registration entries or votes make a significant impact on the integrity and credibility of elections.”
NDC’s opposition
The NPP further took a swipe at the opposition NDC for its constant change of position on the compilation of the new register.
Mr John Boadu stated that developments during the just ended registration exercise further affirm the NPP’s position that the opposition party had been infiltrating the nation’s register with foreigners, reason it was against any call for a change of the register.
The NPP also condemned the pockets of violence identified during the registration exercise, accusing the NDC of being the brain behind the violence.
