The Convention People's Party (CPP) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) not to pursue legal action against individuals who acted as guarantors for more than ten applicants during the recently concluded Limited Voter Registration exercise.
The CPP criticized the EC for failing to update its systems to prevent such abuses during the registration process and claimed that prosecuting these guarantors would be futile.
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Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Nana Frimpomaa Sarpong Kumankumah, Chairperson and Leader of the CPP, argued that the EC should bear responsibility for the shortcomings in the guarantor system and utilize technology to rectify these lapses in the registration process.
The EC recently announced its intention to prosecute individuals who exceeded the limit of guaranteeing ten applicants during the registration process, with their identities to be publicly disclosed.
Per the law governing voter registration, applicants who lacked either the Ghana Card or Ghana Passport were required to present two registered voters to vouch for their citizenship and age, but the guarantor could not vouch for more than ten applicants.
Nana Frimpomaa contended that the EC should have employed technology to prevent the eleventh application from being accepted once a guarantor had reached their limit, rather than penalizing those who may not have been aware of the registration law.
She emphasized that the responsibility for this lapse lies with the EC, which failed to implement this simple technological safeguard.
During the Limited Voter Registration exercise, the EC registered 910,996 new voters from September 12, 2023, to October 2, 2023. Approximately 61.9% of applicants used the guarantor system after being unable to present a Ghana Card or Passport.
The EC expressed satisfaction with the outcome, stating that it exceeded its target of registering 700,000 new voters. Nana Frimpomaa accused the EC of setting a low target, suggesting that the EC should have aimed for at least 1.2 million voters based on the CPP's calculations.
