Political parties divided over EC’s decision to re-exhibit voters’ register online

The Electoral Commission has said it will release the certified copies of the voter’s album to all political parties in the first week of November.

The Commission has triggered a four-day re-exhibition of the provisional voters register online to make it fit for the December 7 polls.

The re-exhibition will afford prospective voters a second chance to check their details for rectification of discrepancies this time on the online.

The Commission has also made available USSD code *711*51# to enable voters check their names in the provisional album without the use of the internet.

Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa stated that the re-exhibition of the voter’s register has never happened before.

“Indeed, this is the first time, and it demonstrates that the Commission is a listening one.

She said, “it is a Commission that is willing to receive feedback for the betterment of its stakeholders and will like to thank the NDC for this idea of re-exhibiting the voter’s register. It also demonstrates that we are a transparent Commission and work with our stakeholders.”

Twelve political party representatives and a representative of Movement for Change were present at the second live inter-party advisory committee meeting that discussed the online re-exhibition of the provisional voters register. Some of them held different views about the exercise.

The People’s National Convention (PNC) and Convention People’s Party want the EC to include an in-person avenue where internet access could not be a barrier. For the National Democratic Party (NDP) the avenue created by the Electoral Commission must be adhered to by stakeholders.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) was concerned with the Commission’s online platform where when one’s details are cued in, gives details of another person.

Its Deputy Director of IT, Dr Tanko Computer, who represented the NDC at IPAC also insisted that the EC allows political parties to endorse the pink sheets that will be used for this year’s elections.

The Commission granted the NDC’s request for political parties to endorse the pink sheets that will be used for this year’s elections but denied them a request to access the Commission’s Application Programming Interface (API) to enable them do mass checking of prospective voters’ details.

The NPP described the NDC’s allegations against the Electoral Commission as without substance.

Peter Mac Manu, an NPP campaign team member said, “we are in bed with the law and not the Electoral Commission so people should stop saying we are in bed with the Electoral Commission.”

The Commission has meanwhile made available soft copies of the provisional register on a hard drive for all the political parties.

Read also:

2024 Elections: EC provides soft copies of revised voters’ register to political parties and Independent Candidates

The post Political parties divided over EC’s decision to re-exhibit voters’ register online first appeared on 3News.

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