EC given November deadline to handle concerns over voters’ register

Portia Arthur

September 7, 2015 1:36 PM

The Chairman of the Peace council says it will be good if the institution mandated by the constitution of Ghana deals with the issues of the voters register as raised by some political parties

Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante

The National Peace Council has tasked the Electoral Commission to handle issues pertaining to the voters register by november this year. This comes after a meeting between the Peace Council and the Electoral Commission over the weekend. There has been calls by a number of political parties, especially the New Patriotic party, NPP for a new voters register ahead of the 2016 elections.

The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante has told pulse.com.gh that failure by the electoral commission to deal with the concerns raised immediately would lead to confusion and disaster in the long run. He has therefore urged the commission to call for a stakeholders conference as soon as possible to deal with the issue.

“We have already indicated that because a number of people, groups, NPP, NDC, various political parties and civil society groups are talking about the voters register, it will be good if the institution mandated by the constitution of ghana to deal with elections in Ghana, namely the Electoral Commission, could call stakeholder conference, sit down with them, try to talk and dialogue dispassionately, to whatever people have and that they should not just listen to one side but they should open it up for all; other stakeholders to come in and then once we have jaw jawed, we will be able to reach a consensus and on the basis of that, carry out with the elections because we believe that, if nothing is done about it, once people have started raising issues, it is a recipe for confusion and for possible conflict that will degenerate into violence”, he added.

Meanwhile, an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held last month at the EC’s headquarters directed all political parties to present proposals on the way forward.

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Portia Arthur