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The Majority leader and Member of Parliament for the Nadowli Kaleo constituency in the Upper West region, Alban Bagbin said more courts must be established to deal with election-related offences.
The new regulation C.I 91 matured after going through the twenty-one sitting days in Parliament as required by law. It was laid before Parliament on Friday, February 12, 2016.
See also: Parliament debates C.I 91 on voters' register amidst confusion
Contributing to Parliament’s subsidiary legislation committee on the floor of parliament, Alban Bagbin said, the new regulation will help the Electoral Commission conduct a peaceful elections.
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"Offenders must be expeditiously prosecuted, and, if found guilty, sanctioned... I think that will be a deterrent and I think that will sanitise our system. So many of us are prone to breaking the law with impunity and this must stop. So, we will want to urge the Chief Justice and the other stakeholders to resource the Chief Justice to establish more courts so that some courts will be designated to handle electoral matters," he added.'
However, there was confusion in Parliament on the issue of one person acting as guarantor for five individuals unable to produce recognized identification under the new election regulations.
See more: Clean voters' register with limited registration - Danquah Institute
Portions of the new C.I. therefore provides for the grounds for qualifications for registration of every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years and above and of sound mind the right to vote and be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda.
Under the new C.I. 91, a person who applies for registration as a voter shall provide as evidence of identification either;
Read more: EC's pilot biometric registration ongoing nationwide
(a) A passport
(b) A driver’s license
(c) A national identification card or
(d) An existing voter identification card
The National Health Insurance card as a form of identification has been omitted from C.I. 91 following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Abu Ramadan & Another v. the Electoral Commission.
See also: CODEO raises eyebrows over EC's readiness for Nov polls
The Regulation which indicates that a person needs to have one Voters' Registration Identification Guarantee Form, as evidence of identification if that person is unable to produce any of the required forms of identification for registration as captured in C.I. 72 was maintained in the new C.I. 92.
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