The Electoral Commission (EC) has informed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that legal and administrative processes laid down to clean the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) have not been fully exhausted to justify the calls for a forensic audit.
The electoral body stated in a statement addressed to the National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, that “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.”
The response follows a letter written to the EC by the NDC reminding it of its call for a forensic audit of the voters’ register.
The NDC had asked the EC to conduct an audit, which should provide a comprehensive review of the IT infrastructure, human processes, and overall system integrity that led to these errors and discrepancies in the voter register.
‘’The audit should also examine both the technical and procedural vulnerabilities of EC’s IT and registration system.”
The EC, in its response, stated that “The Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 91 recognises that the PVR is a draft register, and recognising 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 endeavour, such as the registration of voters, there are bound to be discrepancies.
“One cannot therefore expect the provisional register to be full proof. 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, and incorrect designation of polling stations, among others. Thankfully, there exist legal and administrative remedies to resolve all post-registration issues.”
The EC copied the Majority Leader of Parliament, the Minority Leader, Civil Society Organisation, the Diplomatic Community and Foreign Missions in Ghana, the National Peace Council, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the Chief Imam and the Ahmadiyya Mission.
Read the full statement below
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
