The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticized the Electoral Commission (EC) over what it describes as an incomplete election calendar. According to the major opposition party, the EC’s failure to consult with the political parties before releasing the timetable does not align with the country’s electoral process.
In an interview with TV3, the Deputy Director of Elections for the NDC, Tanko Rashid-Computer stated that the current electoral register is faulty and must be cleaned before new voters are added.
“This register should be cleaned, the current register. Because this register is not good for purpose. You cannot open this register, ask people to add on to an existing register that is faulty. Just the ended District Assembly elections, people went to vote but did not see their names in the voters register,” he said.
He further stated that the current timetable is incomplete because the EC should have allowed for fixing the errors in the current voter register. He also called for the decentralization of new voter registration, which, according to the EC, will be done at the district offices.
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“If they say accessible to the registrant, invariably, that is why we have electoral areas. Electoral areas are accessible to the registrants. I do not know whose interest they are trying to serve, trying to do the registration at their district offices. They should go strictly with the CI. The CI is very clear on that,” he added.
According to the timetable released by the Electoral Commission, there would be public education and awareness creation from April 1 to May 26, 2024.
The voter registration exercise would start from May 7 to May 27, 2024, and new voter registrants would have twenty days to register.
From July 9 to July 18, the EC would submit the provisional voters register to the political parties and from July 15 to July 24, there would be the exhibition of the voters register.
The final voter register would be submitted to the political parties from May 7 to May 27. The Electoral Commission would then accept nominations for parliamentary and presidential elections from September 9 to September 13.
