Director of Elections for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahdi Jibril, has appealed to the ‘conscience’ of Madam Jean Mensa, the Electoral Commissioner, to see reason with the request but the party to conduct a forensic audit of the voter register.
He proclaimed that if the EC Chair and the EC are not complicit in a plot to manipulate the elections in favour of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), they should accept liability and initiate a meticulous forensic audit of the register.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he said the EC has admitted that there were illegal voter transfers conducted by its own official, who has since been interdicted.
The Electoral Commission (EC) last week rejected the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) request for a forensic audit of the voters’ register.
This was after the party had met with the EC and its officials on some matters the party had raised.
The meeting was convened by the NDC after the party identified what it described as widespread discrepancies in the register during the recent exhibition exercise.
But the EC rejected the request for a forensic audit on grounds that these challenges were not new and efforts were underway to make any necessary corrections.
The EC had also maintained that the register to be used for the elections was robust and credible.
But Mahdi Jibril says the register presented to the NDC was not fit for the elections and not credible.
He stated that the register provided by the EC to the NDC differed from the one given to the NPP and the version used for the exhibition exercise, which the NPP has not found any issues with, allegedly due to their intention to manipulate the elections.
He alleged that the NPP has no problem with the current bloated register because it is their intention to rig the elections.
He said the NDC had raised several questions and challenges for which the EC had denied accepting responsibility because it was not prepared to organise a free, fair and transparent elections.
When asked if the party would accept victory in the elections despite raising concerns, he replied, ”We cannot use a register tainted by irregularities for the elections. We insist on rectification of the register, as we cannot condone any election with a register that is not fit for purpose.”
“If the EC Chair has any conscience, she will understand the root cause of the issues and see reason with the NDC and conduct the forensic audit.”
He was reacting to the reasoning behind the announced nationwide demonstrations the party has signalled it will undertake in all 16 regions on September 17, 2024, to highlight the anomalies they have detected in the electoral roll.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana