Thousands of names omitted from new voters register – Mahama

Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has said inconsistencies with the new voters register raises fears that the December 7 elections may not be free and fair.

According to him, thousands of names have been omitted from the recently compiled electoral roll in a way that creates the impression that there is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise eligible Ghanaians.

“Of what use is a democracy if technicalities will be deployed to steal the mandate of the people? Sovereign power emanates from the people and it must be protected and jealously guarded at all times,” he said.

The former President and the NDC presidential candidate for the 2020 elections was speaking at a press conference to address the party’s concerns with the new register that will be used for the upcoming elections.

John Dramani Mahama and his running mate, Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang cut short their campaign tours in different parts of the country to hold the press conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Thursday, September 24, 2020.

According to John Mahama, the worst affected constituency is Binduri in the Upper East Region where at least 7,605 names have disappeared from the electoral roll.

“There are also instances in which the gender, name and registration centre of voters have been transposed. As an interested party in the December elections we want to state and strongly that these alarming warning signs do not bode well for a free and fair election,” Mr Mahama stated.

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John Mahama also said there were a huge number of duplication of voter ID numbers and cited the Krowor Constituency where 2,453 people have been affected in eight centres.

A similar challenge is also in the Central Region, where he said his running mate, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman was also affected.

He also accused the EC of mysteriously adding 907 names to the Asawase register.

While he admitted that the omission of names after the compilation of a new register was not new, he worries that “the magnitude of the recorded anomalies in this voters’ exhibition are unusual and unprecedented.”