On-going registration exercise likely to disenfranchise first-time voters - Foundation

The Youth Bridge Foundation, an NGO has expressed concern that, first-time voters, particularly those currently in school, are likely to encounter significant challenges trying to register in the on-going biometric voter registration and also where to vote.

“This challenge applies mostly to students in Senior High Schools, Vocational,Technical and tertiary institutions, who are currently in their final year and may not be in school during the voting day.”

A release issued and signed by Mr Seth Oteng, Executive Director, Youth Bridge Foundation in Accra said if registered voters are not allowed to transfer their votes for the December 7 Election, then most young people could be disenfranchised; which would be an infringement on their rights to vote.

It expressed concern about the fragmented nature of communicating the Election 2012 Calendar to the electorate and called for early dissemination of the election calendar by the Electoral Commission (EC) to enable voters and other stakeholders to get acquainted with all information regarding the upcoming elections and prepare accordingly.

The Foundation said, that would help with the election process rather than the EC waiting for about a month or less to the date of a major activity and struggle to get everyone informed about each activity.

The NGO however, congratulated the EC for taking a bold step to introduce the biometric registration process, as part of efforts to improve the credibility of the electoral register and reduce the incidence of multiple registrations.

The Foundation asked all well-meaning Ghanians to support efforts aimed at reducing electoral fraud, improving transparency and above all making the entire process trustworthy.

It called on the security agencies to stem the pockets of violence that had characterised the registration process in some parts of the country while political parties must, as a matter of necessity, call their members to order to avoid open confrontations at registration centres.

The release called on the youth, who formed the majority of those at the registration centres, not to allow themselves to be used as pawns by political operatives seeking to serve their selfish ends.**