CODEO deploys 50 field election observers

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), has deployed 50 field observers to undertake roaming observation of the first phase of the on-going biometric voter registration exercise.

A statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday by Professor Miranda Greenstreet, the Co- Chair for CODEO, said based on the field reports on the two days of registration, CODEO retained confidence in the ability of the Electoral Commission (EC) to significantly improve the logistic matters.

“CODEO sees the need for the Electoral Commission to improve on the monitoring in the urban areas and party strongholds to address the challenges encountered so far,” it added.

It said CODEO would further deploy 620 observers in over 600 registration centres located within 300 electoral areas in 100 District in all ten regions.

It said as part of the observation, CODEO has observed that a variety of technical and logistical challenges confronted officials at the registration centres.

It noted that some registration officials appeared not to be adequately conversant with the operation of the biometric kits and said such personal inadequacies coupled with the technical difficulties and other factors, negatively affected the pace of the registration.

The statement said the exercise was generally smooth in many rural areas compared to the urban areas, which tended to experience technical challenges.

It recommended that, the EC should intensify its education on when polling stations within clusters would open by publishing more widely through print, television and the radio stations of the movement plans to increase the awareness.

It called on political parties to desist from the tendency to make alarming statements about the biometric registration exercise, especially where they are not substantiated with the specific facts as it causes undue public anxiety.

It implored political parties to exercise utmost caution in demanding redress for problems that arise from inadequate understanding of the exercise.

It urged the public to exercise patience and bear with the EC as it takes steps to improve the registration exercise, and the public should also make efforts to understand the cluster system being used in the registration exercise.**