Charlotte Osei - Chairperson of the EC
Pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has suggested the November 2016 polls be postponed if that will ensure a clean voter roll and peaceful elections.
The group, together with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), fronted the campaign for a new voters’ register, but the Electoral Commission (EC) insisted on cleaning the 201 2 register and re-suing it rather than discarding it for a new one.
However, speaking to Class News’ Emefa Apawu Wednesday March 30 on 505, convener for the group, Mr David Asante, said Ghana will not be the first country to postpone elections to get it right.
He also cautioned political parties to disband thoughts of rigging the elections.
“If there is anybody who is cooking a rigging idea, the person must discard it because Ghanaians have travelled beyond the path of sitting down to be cheated and for elections to be rigged in this country,” he stated.
“All we are asking is that we do not care if even we need to postpone the election and do it right. We will not be the first country to postpone an election to get it right. … When President Mahama went to Togo and recommended that if there was the need for them to look critically at the electoral register and if it called for the postponement of the election they should do so, they did it and they had a peaceful election.
“If we need to call off our election, [why not]. ...Nigerians postponed their elections by 40 days because of security considerations; they had peaceful elections. I don’t think Ghana will be the first country to call off or postpone an election.”
Mr Asante bemoaned the EC’s inability to find a lasting solution to the electoral register controversy.
“Fix a date, do the proper register cleaning. ...We will not be the first, neither will we be the last country. ...If there is the need for us to sit down as a nation to think critically, [we should]. …Don’t you find it strange that the Electoral Commissioner of Ghana over one year has not found a solution to the electoral register problem? You think this is a serious commission?” he asked.
