Gary Nimako, a private legal practitioner and Director of Legal Affairs for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to work with all political parties in the country’s interest.
He underscored the significance of the election management body positioning itself so that political parties and the public can repose trust in the Commission going into the December 7 general elections.
Mr Nimako made the call when he appeared on TV3’s political analysis programme The Key Points, on Saturday, June 1.
He also supported the EC’s calls to make the Ghana Card the sole identification document for registration. The Commission bemoaned the rising number of applicants using the guarantor system to register.
The Commission has concluded the 2024 limited voter registration exercise successfully.
According to the Director of Electoral Service at the Commission, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe in a media interview on Thursday, provisional figures of registrants hovered around 747,000, exceeding the Commission’s target of 623,000.
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However, Dr Quaicoe further stated that the Commission is considering as mop-up exercise after the ongoing voter transfer and card replacement exercise.
“We have to resource the National Identification Authority very well to they can roll out more people onboard and then capture a lot of people so that we will not rather require this guarantor system again and people should be encouraged to go and get the card.
“If there is a gradual toll on, 15 years you get a card, I think that bit by bit we will be facing out this kind of regime where people must get the guarantor system to be on the voter register.
“Let’s move on gradually and let the EC get the buy-in of all political parties…so the EC has to come down and work with al the political parties just in the interest of the country so that the at the end of the day they can do a good job.”
EC extends registration exercise
The EC heeded calls for an extension of the period for the voter registration exercise, which was originally scheduled to end on Monday, May 27.
The exercise was extended by two, which ended on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
The extension of the deadline, the EC said, was to make up for the challenges incurred during the first two days of the exercise.
The Electoral Commission commenced the limited voter registration exercise on Tuesday, May 7, ahead of the December 7 general elections.
The EC earlier said it was not considering an extension of the period of the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
The Commission maintained that the exercise, despite the initial technical challenges, has been smooth, with a significant increase in the number of applicants registered.
