13 political parties in Ghana endorse EC’s new voter roll

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There is a sharp division among political parties in Ghana over the country’s Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new voter register.

Thirteen political parties in the country are the latest to join the controversy — as they strongly endorse the decision by the election management body.

The political parties believe the move is necessary, especially as the West African nation prepares to hold its general elections this year.

The parties which include the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), National Democratic Party (NDP), People’s National Convention (PNC), Convention People’s Party (CPP) among others, believe the EC has made a strong case for a new register in terms of cost, time and credibility.

At a press conference in the nation’s capital, Accra, leader of the coalition of political parties for ‘YES’ to a new register, the LPG’s Kofi Akaploo, called on all other political parties in the country to rally behind the EC to organise a free and fair election.

“The EC has made a solid case for a new register in terms of cost, time and credibility. We support the compilation of new register and we expect all political parties to support the EC in the quest to deliver a better-organsied election than before.”

The LPG founder also tore into the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), describing the conduct of the rank and file of the party of stampeding the country’s electoral process.

The NDC is part of group of opposition political parties known as the Inter-Party Resistance Against New Voter Register that have planned to stage three different demonstration exercises against the EC.

The group is made up of the NDC, the United Progressive Party (UPP), the All People’s Congress (APC) and the United Front Party (UFP).

Mr. Akaploo insisted that these parties, “are hell-bent on opposing improvement to our electoral system.”

“We are saddened by the continued bashing of the EC by the NDC. We know it is deliberate… we wish to call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to call the so-called main opposition party to order,” he added.

He further said the NDC was proving to be “a danger to the confidence generated in the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).

“You will notice that consistently any time we all sit at IPAC and take a decision, the NDC will come out to contradict what we had all agreed on. Any time the NDC has to work with other political parties in the national interest, they turn around and stab the nation in the back.”

NDC’s opposition

The NDC has maintained that the EC’s move to compile a new biometric voters’ register is illogical.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said the new register “defies logic and must be fiercely resisted as we in the NDC intend to do.”

“The current voters’ register was used recently to successfully elect about 6,600 district assembly members and about 33,000 unit committee members. Yet the Electoral Commission is telling us that the same register cannot be used to elect one person and 275 Members of Parliament,” Asiedu Nketia said.

Ghana’s Parliament has already approved almost half a billion Cedis to enable the Electoral Commission compile a new voter register.

By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH