EC will disenfranchise many Ghanaians with new register – Dumelo

Aspiring Member of Parliament, John Dumelo, has joined the many criticising the EC, for going ahead with a plan to compile a new electoral roll six months to the 2020 general elections.

The popular actor and politician told BBC Pidgin on Thursday that the voters’ registration exercise, scheduled for June, will disenfranchise millions of voters.

He

Read full articlesaid apart from the bad timing of EC’s decision to compile a new electoral roll, the eligibility criteria for admission into the register will exclude many Ghanaians.

Proof of eligibility for persons who want to be admitted into the electoral roll are a valid Ghanaian passport or the national ID card or Ghana Card; but in the absence of these two documents, an applicant will need two guarantors who are registered voters to guarantee their application for registration.

A guarantor can guarantee for up to ten applicants.

Commenting on these proofs of eligibility requirements Mr Dumelo, who hopes to win the seat for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said not many people have a valid passport or Ghana Card.

“It’s stressful and cumbersome. You are disenfranchising a lot of people from voting…if they [EC] go ahead with the compilation of the electoral roll,” he said on the BBC programme.

John Dumelo estimates that at least 10 million Ghanaians may be disenfranchised in the December 2020 polls when the EC completes the exercise in July 2020.