Jean Mensa
The Electoral Commission (EC) has reaffirmed its stance against conducting a forensic audit of the Provisional Voters Register (PVR), despite mounting pressure from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In a detailed letter addressed to NDC Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the EC cited existing legal and administrative mechanisms as sufficient to address discrepancies in the register.
NDC’s “Enough is Enough” Demo
The NDC’s September 17, 2024, demonstration across 16 regional capitals highlighted concerns over alleged irregularities in the voter register.
The party’s petition demanded an independent forensic audit to uncover the full extent of unauthorized log-ins, transfers, discrepancies, and data corruption.
EC’s Rationale
The EC emphasized that the Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 91 recognizes the PVR as a draft register, inherently containing discrepancies.
The Exhibition Exercise, displaying the register at polling stations and online, allows for inspection and corrections. Regulation 23 of C.I. 91 provides clear pathways to address anomalies.
While the Commission is not opposed to a physical exhibition at all 40,000+ centers, it cited the time constraints, noting that it would take around four weeks to print and distribute the corrected register—making it unfeasible with the election date approaching.
“The Commission intends to implement an Online Exhibition of the PVR at no cost to Registered Voters. Voters will be able to report on anomalies with their details within a time frame to be made available to the Public. The Voters Register will be displayed Online until the Election Day.”
“…the Commission is of the view that the legal and administrative processes laid down to clean the PVR have not been fully exhausted to justify the calls for a Forensic Audit. We entreat the public to trust us to carry out our mandate.”
However, explaining the basis of its position in the letter to the NDC, the EC said:
“The Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 91 recognizes that the PVR is a draft Register and recognizing that the PVR is bound to contain discrepancies, the framers of the C.I. 91, instituted the mechanism of the Exhibition Exercise to allow for the cleaning and revision of the PVR to ensure that it is credible and robust for an election.
“The Register is thus displayed in all Polling Stations (Exhibition Centres) and Online to allow for inspection and corrections where necessary.
“In essence, the Exhibition Exercise provides the legal basis to clean the PVR. You will agree with us that, as with any human endeavor, such as the Registration of Voters, there are bound to be discrepancies. One cannot, therefore, expect the Provisional Register to be foolproof.
“It is for this reason that Regulation 23 of C.I. 91 provides clear and well-defined pathways to cure and deal with likely anomalies that are bound to arise from the Registration of Voters, including missing names, errors in biographical data, duplicates, the existence of deceased persons on the Register, incorrect designation of Polling Stations, among others. Thankfully, there exist legal and administrative remedies to resolve all post-registration issues,” the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, stated.
BY Daniel Bampoe