Accra, Feb. 13, GNA - Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday urged Ghanaians to take the replacements of the voters' registration exercise very seriously and do well to re-register their names when it is opened.
He said every eligible citizen must partake in the exercise, otherwise one stood a risk of not being able to vote on December 7 and in any other elections or referendum yet to be organised.
The fresh registration exercise which take off from March 16 to 29 would help correct the bloated current register of some 10.5 million voters, out of the total population of less than 20 million, among others measures.
Dr Afari-Gyan made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after holding a day's briefing on the "Replacement of the Voters Register, 2004" for the national executives of all the political parties in the country.
Over 45 representatives of all the nine political parties attended, with the exception of the National Reform Party (NRP) which was not re[resented.
The representatives were taken through topics including the "Background to Replacement Exercise, the Registration Regulations, the Registration Process and the Challenges and Complaints"
Stressing on the importance of the exercise, Dr Afari-Gyan said "we must all pretend as if we have never registered our names before and must join in this major programme to once and for all, have a very reliable and credible voters' register".
About the briefing programme, he said it would be a continuous exercise until a consensus or an agreement was reached with all the political parties.
Mr David Adeenze-Kangah, a Deputy Commissioner of the EC in-charge of Finance and Administration told the participants to advised their supporters to register "since the registration of a voter is the greatest tool for any political party to win."
He also advised the parties to ensure that their selected polling agents were properly trained about the electoral process. They should as well be knowledgeable, educated and trustworthy.
Mr T. N. Ward-Brew, Leader of the Democratic Peoples' Party (DPP) said such a meeting was important but stressed that effort be made to make the upcoming general elections very free and safe.
He suggested that security checks must be put in place at all polling centres to discourage " macho men" who were used to intimidate polling agents in previous elections".
