John Dramani Mahama
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dropped its push for a forensic audit of the provisional voters’ register (PVR), a demand it had been championing for weeks.
The main opposition party had previously cited irregularities in the register, including duplicate entries and unaccounted for transfers, as reasons for the audit.
However, after failing to provide concrete evidence to support its claims at a recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, the party has shifted its focus.
It is now calling for the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement additional measures to ensure the integrity of the voters’ register.
These measures include re-exhibition exercise of the revised PVR at both online and offline at the exhibition centres, as well as a multi-stakeholder and interparty examination of the IT system of the EC.
The NDC believes these steps will help to address potential vulnerabilities and prevent possible manipulation of the final register.
On Tuesday, the Commission announced successful resolution of all discrepancies found in the provisional voters’ register, including concerns raised by the National Democratic Congress.
Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, who disclosed this, assured that the corrected register would be made available to political parties and the public, assuring that the discrepancies had been largely addressed.
She indicated that the Commission employed tried and tested legal and administrative processes to address the issues, as outlined in the 1992 Constitution and CI-91, amended by CI-126.
In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, the NDC said that it had accepted the EC’s promise to release the updated provisional voters’ register for scrutiny.
The party revealed that its Functional Executive Committee (FEC) members agreed to this decision after deliberations.
“FEC further welcomes the decision by the Electoral Commission to re-exhibit the updated provisional voters’ register. We however recommend that the re-exhibition exercise should be conducted online and offline at the exhibition centres,” the statement noted.
“Additionally, the NDC demands a multi-stakeholder and interparty examination of the IT system of the Electoral Commission with the aim of addressing the vulnerabilities that the EC itself has admitted to, which vulnerabilities led to several of the anomalies we have raised,” the statement stressed.
It added, “Clearly, the vulnerabilities in the IT system of the Electoral Commission can be exploited by criminals to compromise the integrity of the December 7, 2024 elections if not addressed.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu