Jean Mensa – EC Boss
The Electoral Commission (EC)) has revealed that a total of 17,027,641 eligible voters are on the final voters register for the 2020 General elections.
Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, made this known on Monday, November 30, 2020, at the Let The Citizen Know press conference in Accra.
“I am pleased to inform you that the Final Voters Register has a total of seventeen million and twenty-seven thousand, six hundred and forty-one (17,027,641) registrants who are eligible to vote come December 7th, 2020,” she said.
According to her, “Of the total number of registered voters, females constitute eight million, eight hundred and ten thousand, two hundred and eighty-three (8,810,283) representing 51.74% of the total Register while males amounted to eight million, two hundred and seventeen thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight (8,217,358), representing 48.26% of the total Register.”
She noted that Greater Accra has the highest number of female and male registrants.
The region with the lowest number of female and male registrants is North East Region, she said.
According to her, Western Region has 1,187,333 valid voters,
Central region has 1,567,756,
Greater Accra, 3,528,996,
Volta Region, 924,116, Eastern Region 1,641,050,
Ashanti Region 3,019,178
Western North Region, 468,683,
Ahafo Region, 316,970
Bono Region, 653,378,
Bono East, 594,610, Oti Region
358,552, Northern Region,
1,050,016, Savannah Region
298,404, Upper West
469,753, North East
289,529, Upper East
659,317
“I will now address the issue of the persons whose names have been placed on the Multiples and Exceptions list. For the information of the General Public this information has been given to the Political Parties. It was provided to them on the 7th of November 2020 together with the Voters Register,” she said.
Multiples List
“The total number of multiple registrations on the Multiples list today stands at fifteen thousand, eight hundred and sixty (15,860).”
“We have seen a decrease in the number because some of these persons proceeded to court and had their objections overturned by the court,” Mrs Mensa said.
“By its name this list refers to the number of multiple registrations done by unique individuals. It does not refer to unique individuals. As such, if a person registered five (5) times, all five registrations will be recorded on the list although the five registrations were undertaken by one person.”
“The number of unique individuals who conducted the multiple registration is however seven thousand, eight hundred and ninety ( 7,890).”
“It is instructive to note that the Multiples List is not generated by the Staff of the Commission. This list is generated by the ABIS system when it detects multiple registrations by a unique individual when the same set of fingerprints appears for persons bearing different names. The system picks this up and isolates the registrant. This is not done by staff of the commission.”
“I emphasize this to allay the fears or perception of the Commission deliberately removing names of registrants from the Register. When a person with a unique set of fingerprints registers multiple times, this is flagged and picked up by the system and the names and details are isolated on the Multiples list.”
Exceptions List
Again, she said there have been perceptions that the EC is deliberating removing persons from the register and placing them on the Exceptions list. This is false.
“This Exceptions list refers to unique individuals who conducted various forms of electoral malpractices including underage registration, registration by foreigners, and registration by persons not ordinarily resident in the area where they wish to register.
To date, we have a total number of 13,997 persons on the Exceptions list. It is important to note that the list was developed as a result of the citizens at the grass root level challenging and objecting to registration of certain persons. During the Registration Exercise a number of persons had their registrations challenged.”
“As a result, they were not provided with their Voter ID cards. Additionally, during the Exhibition period, a number of persons had their registrations objected to for some of the reasons stated above. It is important to know that those challenged at registration had to opportunity to appeal against the challenge to their registration by providing proof of their eligibility to be registered to the DRRC set up by the Electoral Commission to hear these cases. Some of the challenged persons had their challenges overturned and these persons were then provided with their cards and included in the Voters Register.”
“Again, persons whose registrations were objected to during the Exhibition processes also had the opportunity to appear before the Magistrate.i.e. the DRRO and appealed against their objections by presenting requisite documents and evidence to prove their eligibility. A good number the objections were overturned, and these persons have been reflected in the register.”
“It is important to note that beyond this, a number of persons whose appeals were not granted by the DRRC and DRRO sought redress at the High Court. A number of appeals were granted, and these persons have been included in the Voters Register as we speak. Two of such cases occurred in Zubzugu, in the Northern where some 443 people have been included in the register following the granting of their appeal by the High Court. Their Voter ID cards have since been issued to them.
Again, in Effutu, Winneba some fifty-two (52) persons appealed against the objection to their inclusion in the register. The High Court overturned those objections and they have all been included in the Voters Register by the Commission. As we speak their voters ID cards have been issued to them.
It is important to note that in the past the Multiples List and the Exception List were not published by the Commission. However, in the spirit of transparency the Commission has decided to publish both lists on its website. Both lists add up to a total number twenty one thousand, eight hundred and eighty seven (21,887)unique individuals.
For the information of the general public, the Exceptions and Multiples List prior to the 2016 election amounted to some eight hundred thousand 800,000 persons. They were banned from voting in the 2016 Elections. Today these persons have been given another opportunity to register and vote.”
Gap in the 2020 Voters Register
“By gap, I am referring to the number of persons who registered during the just ended registration exercise, but whose names are not on the Final Register. In total we have some five hundred and fifty (542) persons on this list.”
“The question some may ask is, how did we do this?
Following the Exhibition Exercise, the Commission undertook a thorough review and analysis of the Register and took steps to reconcile the number of persons who actually registered with the number of persons reflected in the Voters Register. We relied on the End of Day reports generated by the Biometric Voter Registration Kits and compared the actual number of Registrants on the End of Day reports to the Provisional Voters Register. At the end of the day, it was revealed that five hundred and forty two (542) persons had registered but were not captured on the Register.”
By Melvin Tarlue