We are keen on reconciliation with NDC - EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) has stated that it is keen on reconciliation with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as both stakeholders want the same thing, including a robust and credible voter register.

Speaking to Newsfile on Saturday, 14th September, Deputy Chairman for Corporate Services of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Eric Asare Bossman, explained that the Commission’s reference to the issues with the 2016 voters register and the NDC’s failure then to ask for a similar forensic audit was not intended to attack the NDC. Rather, it was meant to show that the essence of the Exhibition Exercise has always been to unearth errors with the register and to have such errors corrected through the laid-down legal processes and that that has been the practice since 1992.

Dr. Bossman expressed the hope that the NDC would schedule a meeting with the EC, together with other political parties and stakeholders, to present evidence of the discrepancies that they have discovered, and for the EC to demonstrate how those discrepancies have either been resolved or would be resolved.

Earlier in the week, the EC appealed to former President John Dramani Mahama to bring the NDC to the discussion table to help address the discrepancies in the provisional voters register that the party say they have identified. Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, 12th September 2024, Deputy Chairman, Operations, Mr. Samuel Tettey, appealed directly to the former President:

“The EC believes that the best way to ascertain the credibility and integrity of the 2024 Voters Register is at the discussion table, not on the streets. Taking to the streets will not ensure a credible register. It will only cause tensions and suspicions which are unwarranted. We call on the former President, His Excellency John Mahama, an eminent and respected statesman of the Republic, to encourage and bring his party to the table as that is the best place to address issues and ascertain the truth regarding the Voters Register.

...We are confident that the former President will heed our calls and do everything in his power to bring his party to the discussion table. On our part, we assure the NDC of a transparent process that would demonstrate to them that all their concerns have been resolved.”

The call on President Mahama to bring the NDC to the discussion table has become important as, according to the Commission, the NDC has not yet provided the EC with evidence of the discrepancies in the Provisional Voters Register that the NDC say they discovered during the Exhibition Exercise. According to the EC, despite promising to share the evidence with them following their meeting on Friday, 6th September 2024, several calls and requests to the NDC by the EC to obtain evidence of the discrepancies have yielded no results.