N/R: Requirements 'scares' fresh voters away

Reports coming in from Tamale at some registration centers in the Northern region has it that, some fresh non-registered voters have refused to register as valid voters due to the requirements in the on-going exercise.

Some of the fresh voters who turned up to register according to Prince Kwame Tamakloe, were required to present their birth certificates and two registered voters as guarantors before they are allowed to go through the process.

However, the young people have decided not to return to the centres to get their names captured on the biometric data to enable them vote in the forthcoming general elections.

According to them, the requirements are frustrating. They have also complained that it is difficult for them to get guarantors to vouch for them as eligible to register.

Meanwhile day two of the exercise is still receiving very low turnout, Prince Tamakloe said. He told Nyankonton Mu Nsem that, some residents have called on the EC to intensify publicity on the exercise to ensure that, all eligible voters who do not have their names on the biometric data get to register.

He bemoaned the difficulty journalists are going through to file reports on the exercise as officials of the EC are demanding accreditation from them.

The EC is expecting to capture some 1.2 million fresh voters onto the biometric data in the ongoing 10 –day exercise.