1m new voters will be disenfranchised – NDC

The largest Opposition Party, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), has estimated that a minimum of one million potential voters will be disenfranchised should the Electoral Commission adamantly continue to hold the limited registration exercise for the Assembly election at its district Offices instead of the electoral levels.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana recently announced plans to undertake a limited voter Registration exercise for qualified voters who have attained 18 years ahead of the local level election this year.

But the NDC has kicked against the move to conduct the exercise at the 250 district offices of the Commission contrary to the decentralized system used in previous registrations exercises under former chairpersons which saw the deployment of registration machines to 6,000 centers.

Speaking at a symposium organized by Koforidua Technical University chapter of TEIN, NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said Jean Mensah led Electoral commission has sidestep laid down procedure used by her predecessors during such registration exercises.

He said the previous Electoral Commission Chair, always consulted the Statistical Service of Ghana to get an accurate estimated number of Ghanaians who have attained 18 years to guide a voters registration exercise but the current administration has instead generated its own estimation of around 300,000 potential voters who have attained 18 years and above within three years.