The Electoral Commission [EC] has condemned what it described as vandalisation of its biometric voter registration equipment in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n
The Electoral Commission last Thursday began the limited voter registration exercise in a bid to capture new voters onto its database.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”eFMyYeA6NPw7T7EdeIDpSxmIZcujH1IH”]But there are reports of some representatives of political parties deploying thugs to registration centres to cause mayhem.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0EC in a statement signed by its Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations, Amadu Sulley, said they have \u201cnoted with grave concern the vandalisation of their Biometric Voter Registration equipment at a registration centre in the Asokwa sub-metro of the Ashanti region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Friday 29th April, 2016, the second day of the ongoing limited voter registration exercise, a group of thugs stormed into the Gyenyaase registration centre and smashed the registration kit into pieces. \u00a0They also destroyed registration materials and took away used Challenge Forms (containing details of those whose registrations have been challenged),\u00a0 copies of Form 1C and the hand-held scanner. ”<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commission strongly condemns such acts of lawlessness perpetrated by individuals whose sole motive is to disrupt the ongoing registration exercise,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The statement further urged the public to use the laid down procedures for addressing grievances or disputes that may arise at the registration centres.<\/p>\n
One person arrested<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Commission, the police in the Ashanti Region has also arrested one person suspected of having deployed thugs to some centres in the ongoing exercise adding that the suspect will assist with investigations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wish to assure the people in the affected area that efforts are ongoing to retrieve their registration data. Meanwhile, the registration process will continue at the Centre as scheduled. We urge our registration officers to remain resolute and not be intimidated by such acts while the security agencies take measures to protect them and the registration materials.<\/p>\n Parties abusing challenge process<\/strong><\/p>\n The Collation of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), has\u00a0said\u00a0some political party agents monitoring the ongoing limited voters\u2019 registration exercise have been abusing the challenge procedure<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n CODEO says\u00a0the instances where\u00a0party agents abused the challenge procedure on the first day of the exercise, may discourage some prospective\u00a0voters from\u00a0partaking in the exercise. They cited a particular polling station in the Eastern Region that had about 20\u00a0registrants challenged by party agents of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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