Political Parties express concern about verification and voter Identity Cards

Accra Nov. 6, GNA – Political Parties in Ghana on Tuesday expressed concern about a possible delay on verification process of voters in the upcoming general elections and urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to resolve the challenge as soon as possible to help enhance the credibility of the elections.   They also appealed to the EC to as a matter of urgency ensure that all holders of the voter identity cards were catcher on their facilities in order not to disfranchise anybody for no fault of theirs.    The political parties raised these concerns at a day’s forum organised for the presidential candidates and the leadership of political parties and other stakeholders in the election process in Accra.   The EC organised the forum to identify and resolve challenges to enhance the credibility of Ghana’s 2012 elections.   Voting on December 7 will start at 0700 hours and end on 1700 hours which involves 600 minutes.   A voter is expected to spend about two minutes on verification and going by that calculation, only 300 voters are likely to go through the verification process within the period.   The parties said a polling station that had more than 600 to 1,000 registered voters is likely to suffer some consequences of being disfranchises which could impede the electoral process and cause confusion.   They, therefore, called on the EC to work assiduously to address the challenge before the elections and also ensure that voters who could not find their names during the voter exhibition exercise but are holders of the voter identity cards are allowed to vote.   The parties pledged their commitment to play by the rules to complement the efforts of the EC in conducting peaceful elections.   Some of the party leaders appealed to the security agencies to be more committed to ensure clean and transparent election devoid of any acrimony while urging the working of the EC to remain professional.   They suggested regular interactions among the EC and political parties at inter-party dialogue forums to streamline all challenges involving the electoral processes to enhance transparency and credible elections.   Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, Chairman of the EC, reminded leaders of political parties that the EC was committed to conducting a successful election and had met executives of the various political parties in the regions and also brought some of them down to Accra to visit the EC’s offices to see things for themselves.   He said all those efforts were meant to build the integrity of the EC in the minds of the people.   Dr. Gyan said Ghana has the right to credible elections and that desire must not turn to be disappointment, explaining that the EC and other stakeholders have at stake a herculean task to conduct transparent and clean elections.   The EC wishes to promise Ghana transparent elections with no favour to any political party and pleaded for peaceful electioneering campaigns to sustain the prevailing peace to enable the people to elect a president and parliamentary candidates of their choice to govern them.   Madam Sally Taylor, Country Director of Departments for International Development (DFID) of Britain praised Ghana’s democratic credentials and said Ghana had performed well.   Electoral   Commission of  Ghana ,DFID and  KGC on  Tuesday 6-11-2012  held  a roundtable  dialogue with  various  Presidential  candidates  and their  representatives  in  Accra.   GNA... Read Full Story