The Chairman of the Electoral Commission(EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Djan has charged its 10-member electoral reform committee to dispassionately examine the ‘no verification, no vote’ policy in its electoral regulation.
According to him, there is the need to review the policy to ensure that the Ghanaian voter is not short-changed in its implementation.
The ‘no verification, no vote’ principle is to ensure that prospective voters are authenticated before they vote.
[contextly_sidebar id=”yXvqQnSvCEyKTV0cxWuBNaZIQWISqzos”]Speaking at the inauguration of its reforms committee the EC boss insisted the rule has to be critically studied to ensure that the interest of the voter is safeguarded.
“We urge the committee to critically and dispassionately examine the principle of no verification, no vote as it currently operates under our electoral law.
In September 2014, the Institute of Economic Affairs, (IEA) called on the Electoral Commission to enforce the regulation and make efforts to improve upon the equipment and technology in order not to repeat the problem that characterized the 2012 general election with the use of verification device.
“The IEA is calling on the Electoral Commission to maintain and enforce the provision in the electoral regulations which states that “no verification, no vote.This means that there must be authentication of finger prints before a person is allowed to vote,” it said.
However the Progressive People’s Party(PPP) kicked against the proposal.
The General Secretary of the party, Bernard Mornah threatened to go to court court to challenge the provisions of the Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 75 which makes biometric verification a prerequisite for voting.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana