The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described as “disappointing,” the Electoral Commission’s decision not to compile a new voter’s register for the general elections in November.
The EC in a statement last week, described as “unconvincing,” the party’s arguments for a new register.
The NPP and some civil societies groups had advocated for a new electoral roll, saying the current one is flawed and bloated with names of foreigners and minors.
[contextly_sidebar id=”9IGNtkx5crNLljVNfkjMXVLnjDlDbDIV”]Speaking to Citi News the Director of Communications for the NPP, Nana Akomea said the party will meet to determine its next line of action.
“It is little surprising looking at some of the grounds the EC took for the decline of our petition. It is very disappointing and must be disappointing to all fair minded Ghanaians because the NPP did not state an opinion that you may disagree with. The NPP gave their opinion based on verifiable facts that we put up to the Electoral Commission,” he argued.
The NPP claimed that 76,000 foreigners are currently on the Ghana’s voters’ registers.
According to Nana Akomea, “at the very least, we expected the Electoral Commission to also go into the matter, check out if those 76,000 names are actually true and whether they are on both national registers. But the Electoral Commission seems to have done no such thing, no verification, and no investigation at all; it seems to be saying that we didn’t give them enough proof. We are very disappointed.”
Meanwhile, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is asking the NPP to accept the verdict of the Electoral Commission in good faith.
The Deputy General Secretary of the party Koku Anyidoho told Citi News the EC must be commended rather than vilified.
“It’s obvious that the NPP is hell bent on thinking themselves deeper in their own cacophony and that is their business. The whole world is moving ahead, majority of Ghanaians are moving ahead, it’s a new year, if they want to stay glued in their mess of 2015, all the total confusion in the party, the outside fabrication, the lies spewed by Bawumia and the Nana Addo in relation to the voters register, the fake Togolese register that they brought…that is their own cup of tea,” he added.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana