People cast their votes in presidential and parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tesano, Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012. About 225 polling stations reopened Saturday for an impromptu second day of voting after there were technical breakdowns on the first day of voting, Ghana voting officials announced. Some voters waited in line all day Friday and then returned to vote on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gabriela Barnuevo)
The Electoral Commission (EC) has disclosed that about 30,000 out of the over 16 million people who took part in the voter registration exercise have been disqualified.
Deputy EC Commissioner in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, said about 14,000 of the 30,000 disqualified voters have been put on the Exceptions List while about 16,000 names have been put on the Multiple List.
A name is put on the Exceptions List after it has been excluded from the Provisional Register on grounds of disqualification – registration outside the stipulated time.
Also, the Multiple Registration List contains the names and photographs of persons who have registered more than once.
“They cannot vote because they had engaged in infractions,” Dr Bossman Asare said.
Dr Asare made the revelation when he spoke on a current affairs programme on Joy News on Sunday, October 25, 2020.
He said the disqualification of these 30,000 people went through a legal process, presided over by a judge, after their eligibility was challenged – a point he made to explain that the removal of the names from the provisional voters’ register followed due process.
He said although a few issues cropped up during the voters registration exercise, the EC has been able to make sure that every Ghanaian who registered in the just ended exercise would be able to vote on December 7.
“Your details are intact. Your biometric details – fingerprint, facial recognition – all of them are intact. So, the Commission is assuring all the good people of this country. Once you took part in the registration, your details are intact. You are part of the 17 million or so people,” he stressed.
Source: ghanaweb.com
