EC’s refusal to audit 2024 voters’ register is a threat to national security – Abu Siddique

Member of the opposition NDC’s research team, Siddique Abubakar Suleiman has criticized the Electoral Commission’s refusal to conduct an independent forensic audit of the 2024 voters’ register.

The policy analyst who was speaking to Beposohemaa Nana Oforiwaa Amanfo on the Inside Politics programme on TV XYZ admitted that the electoral roll for the 2024 elections on December 7 was fraught with anomalies which needed to be tackled urgently.

He said without the audit to make the register clean, the integrity of the general polls would be questionable.

“We, the NDC, have evidence that the voters’ register has issues that need to be resolved but the Electoral Commission does not want to listen to us and that is dangerous to the democracy of the country,” he said in Akan.

His concern was that should the Electoral Commission (EC) fail to correct the “mistakes” on the register, there could be chaos on the day of the election, especially when electorates do not find their names on the roll at their respective polling stations.

“If people go to their polling centres to vote and realize their names had been transferred to other constituencies without their knowledge, that could mar the integrity of the polls,” he stated.

His comment comes at a time when his party–the NDC– has demanded a thorough audit of the electoral roll to avert any future chaos on election day.

The claim has been rejected by the EC, which has triggered agitations among the largest opposition party.

In his submission, Mr Suleiman said the posture of the EC on the matter is dangerous and can spark pockets of violence on election day.

“What the EC is doing is a threat to national security. I say this because when there is chaos because of the anomalies, the country’s security could break, and we have seen similar situations in some African countries where people who were not happy about how elections were conducted took the laws into their own hands and it ended in the death of many people,” Suleiman said.

To him, the EC "should get independent experts to help solve the issue in the presence of representatives of the NPP (the governing party) and the NDC and other parties to bring closure to the matter.”

Background

Earlier this week, the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah announced that the party will hold a nationwide demonstration on September 17 against the EC over its refusal to commission a forensic audit of the voter register for the December polls.

He stated that the lack of information has raised suspicions, which is why the demonstration has become necessary among other concerns.

Also, the NDC Minority in Parliament raised concerns about the voter register exhibition, alleging that it has been tampered with.

According to the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the voter register has been riddled with irregularities and flaws, asserting that the NDC cannot vouch for the integrity of the voter register.