Certified voters’ register robust and credible – EC

This release of the Certified Voters’ Register was also a fulfilment of the pledge the Commission made to political parties during the last Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, held on 15 October 2024, to release the register within the first week of November 2024.

Following the release, the Commission reassured all stakeholders that the register is robust and credible, urging the public to support its efforts to deliver free, fair, transparent, and credible elections in December 2024.

Addressing representatives of political parties at a gathering in Accra on Wednesday, 6 November, EC Chairperson Jean Mensa reiterated the importance of this milestone, emphasising the Commission’s commitment to fair and credible elections.

“At the meeting of IPAC on the 15th of October, we indicated that this presentation would be made to you at the end of the first week of November,” Mensa explained. “However, with the help of God, we have been able to do that two days before the 8th which signifies the end of the first week of November.”

Mensa further revealed that after the exhibition of the revised Provisional Voters’ Register (PVR), the Commission addressed a total of 158 issues raised by voters across the country. She reassured stakeholders that all concerns had been resolved and that the final voters’ register was in optimal condition to support a “credible, transparent, fair, peaceful, and glorious election” on 7 December.

A statement signed by Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairman of Operations at the EC, confirmed the Commission’s readiness to conduct a free, fair, and transparent electoral process.

“The soft copies which were presented to the Political Parties on external hard drives contained the Valid Voters Register, the Exceptions List, the Multiples List, the Transferred Voters List, the Absent Voters List, the Manual Verification List, the Proxy Voters List and the Special Voters List,” the statement outlined.

During the presentation, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) requested a summary of the various lists included in the register. While the Commission is not legally obligated to provide statistical breakdowns, it agreed to meet the NDC’s request as a gesture of transparency and accountability. The EC even went further to compile the summaries on a regional basis.

In its statement, the EC highlighted its practice, ongoing since 1992, of providing political parties with only soft copies of the Certified Voters’ Register, without a breakdown of statistics. Despite this, it committed to sending the additional summaries to parties after generating them, in response to the NDC’s request.

The Commission continues to reaffirm its commitment to ensuring a credible and orderly election, assuring stakeholders that the Certified Voters’ Register is both “robust and credible.”