The list of about 76,000 people who registered more than once during the recent limited voters registration exercise, conducted by the Electoral Commission, EC, will be handed over to the police for prosecution next week. According to the EC, from the trend, the number is likely to rise to about 200,000 by the time the process was completed. The move is expected to deal a heavy blow to the party which has many of its supporters involved in the practice. The Chairman of the EC, Dr. Kwadwo Afari -Djan, who announced this at a forum in Accra yesterday, said the EC will do its part and it is up to the police to also do their part by investigating the issue and prosecuting the culprits accordingly.
Speaking at the Editor’s Forum on the theme, the challenges of election 2008, the EC Chairman said the commission is compelled to do so because there is a precedent with a parliamentary candidate being convicted for double registration and so the others must be treated same. He said the commission is deleting the names of foreigners and minors from the voters register, adding, “this is an exercise we are undertaking before, during and after the elections to ensure that the register is clean”. An estimated 350,000 names have so far been deleted from the register in an exercise which is ongoing to ensure a fairly clean voters register. The EC has said there are more ghost names and names of minors and foreigners in the register which need to be deleted.
Dr. Afari-Djan also made another interesting revelation when he said that no one was expected to be turn away people who he or she feels suspicious about on polling day. “We have agreed with the political parties that no one or party agent should challenge or prevent any person he or she suspects to be a minor or foreigner from voting because once his her name is in the register, he/she is eligible to cast a ballot, he said. According to him, that agreement came about in view of the potential trouble it might create at particular polling stations, adding that to avoid this we are of the view that people should not be turned away.
The EC for its part is doing all it can to ensure that those who do not qualify by virtue of age, nationality or have undertaken double registration will have their names deleted, he said. His comment is expected to start another round of debate in the media and in political circles, as it will be expected to be a major challenge on Election Day
