EC to evaluate proposals submitted on voters register

The Electoral Commission (EC) is to evaluate proposals submitted by the political parties and civil society organizations with the help of an independent expert on the current voters register.

The EC received 15 submissions from the political parties and 15 from the civil society organizations, religious bodies and IT companies after it requested the public to submit proposals on the voters' register.

Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Commissioner of the EC, who said this on Wednesday after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting in Accra, stressed that the Commission would organize a forum by the end of October for all stakeholders for constructive consensus on the country’s voters' register.

Mrs Osei said the EC would continue to be resolute in its decision, and would not succumb to any pressure from any political parties or organizations, and that the commission would act according to the dictates of the law and public interest.

She said the meeting also discussed matters arising from the just-ended district level elections, adding that even though the elections went on smoothly, there were few challenges.

The Electoral Commissioner said voting did not take place in five districts because of legal challenges, adding that in some districts, some candidates secured the same votes, and were therefore waiting for re-election by end of October.

She said the total turn out of this year’s district level elections was 39 per cent, which was higher than the 2012 election of 35 per cent.

Mrs Osei was optimistic that when the court issues were resolved, the turnout would rise, with the political parties suggesting that the number of extra ballot papers should be reduced from 10 to five per cent.

She said the meeting had engagement on the process of electoral reforms spearheaded by the Reform Committees to implement the reforms.