50K Deceased, Illegal Voter Transfers: NDC lists issues with 2024 Voter Register

The opposition National Democratic Congress has raised serious concerns over the integrity of the voter register compiled by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) for the pending December 7, 2024, general elections.

Leading figures in the party, including the party’s flagbearer, former President John Dramani Mahama, have stated that there are serious discrepancies between the 2024 Provisional Voter Register given to the party and the one used by EC officials for the recently concluded Voter Register Exhibition exercise.

Some of the issues with the register, the party has indicated, include the names of the dead as well as people who did multiple registrations, illegal voter transfers, and changes in polling stations, among others.

Speaking in an interview on Metro TV on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, the Director of Elections and ICT of the NDC, Dr Omane Boamah, expressed shock at the number of anomalies in the 2024 Provisional Voter Register.

He indicated that he is surprised that the register the EC sent to the NDC is different from the one being used for the exhibition.

The NDC election director went on to list some of the issues the party found in the register as follows:

50,000 deceased people on the register:

Dr Omane Boamah claimed that the NDC has found the names of 50,000 deceased people on the voter register.

“Our study of the register since they gave it to us has identified 50,000 dead people on it. We are still taking out the dead people.”

Illegal voter transfer:

He indicated that persons who have not transferred their votes for the 2024 election found their names on the Voter Transfer List.

He also said the NDC has found a number of illegal voter transfers in the voters register.

He said that in the constituency of the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, some voters had been transferred out of the constituency without their knowledge.

“Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, he may have informed you that yesterday, it was revealed in his constituency that about 2,000 people have been transferred out of the constituency and about the same 2,000 to about 3,000 had been transferred into his constituency. Can you imagine this?... How can this be tolerated in a democracy when we only have September, October, November to an election? Three clear months to the election.”

Change in polling stations:

He also indicated that the party found that the polling stations of voters have been changed without their knowledge.

“Another category are people whose polling stations have been changed. Assuming the Electoral Commission had given the register to us on time, we would have been able to identify it and have informed them that your polling station has been changed to place A, B or C. Because the commission itself reneged on their promise. They had promised to give it to us as far back as July, unfortunately, it didn't happen then. Even the August date, it was still shifted. One would have thought that the delays were for them to have perfected the system. Unfortunately, that did not happen.”

The EC not taking the biometrics of proxy voters:

The NDC election director also indicated that the EC has failed to take the biometric details of persons who would be acting as proxies for other voters during the elections.

“I come to a category which cannot be proven in this exhibition, but it's a very dangerous category. During the period when people apply for proxy, do you know that contrary to practice in a number of places, biometrics of those who were applying for the proxy were not taken? And we have raised this issue at IPAC more than two months ago, till date the EC has not taken action on it.”

He explained that if the biometrics of proxies are not taken, it makes room for people to vote for the deceased.

People not finding their names in the register:

He pointed out that a lot of eligible registered Ghanaian voters could not find their names in the register.

Qualified voters being placed on the Multiple Registration List:

He also pointed out that a number of people who had registered only once have been wrongly placed on the multiple registration list.

BAI/AE

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