EC increases number of polling stations

The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday announced that the number of Polling Stations for Election 2012 have been increased from 23,000 to 26,000. Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the EC Chairman, said this at a media dialogue organized by the Editors' Forum of Ghana on the topic: "On Election 2012: the EC's preparations and related matters".   He said after the compilation of the Biometric Voter Register, the EC realized that some polling stations were oversubscribed and therefore, had to be divided into two. On the issue of the Voters' Register, the EC Chairman said: "The Voters Register is a very critical element in the electoral process and it must be prepared very well. That is why it took a long time in it compilation." "We put the register there for public viewing because we are a human institution and we are not perfect but during the process of the exhibition, 200 polling stations recorded zero registration which was due to human errors". He explained that these were largely due to wrong coding but all these had being resolved. The EC Chairman said there were instances where there were mix-ups in which male names were given female pictures and vice versa but all had been taken care of. He said the printing of the main Voters Register was on going and that copies would be made available to political parties on Monday. Dr Afari Gyan said there would be two registers at each Polling Station with the names arranged in alphabetical order in the first one, while those in the second one would be arranged in numerical order. He said a voter would have to first go to the alphabetical register and there he will be told the page number on which his details would found in the numeric register. The numeric register had images of the registered voter. Dr Afari-Gyan said the printing of ballot papers was on going and that those of presidential candidates had been completed since the EC does not foresee any increase in the number of candidates except by a court order. He said under the biometric system of voting, the law allows proxy voting by special categories of registered voters such as Ghanaians on diplomatic missions

Minors captured in Biometric Voter Register a big challenge for EC – Dr Afari-Gyan.

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), has said minor captured in the Biometric Voter Register posed a big challenge to the EC in the conduct of this year's general elections. He said this on Thursday during a media dialogue organized by the Editors' Forum of Ghana (EFG) on the topic "on election 2012: the EC's preparations and related matters".   "Nobody knows exactly what to do about this registered minors. It is a very big problem and it does not speak well of us," he said. He said the biometric verification machine cannot determine who is a minor or a foreigner and that examination of images of those captured during the biometric registration shows that minors were registered all over the country. Dr Afari-Gyan showed to journalists copies of the voters' register containing images of minors from the Northern Region specifically Tamale, the Ashanti, Volta, Brong- Ahafo, Upper East and West regions. He said the EC was still compiling the list of those who claimed to be 18 years of age but their images showed them to be minors. Dr Afari-Djan said on Election Day no one can prevent registered minors from voting as long as their names are in the register and expressed regret that the EC had no power to remove the names of the minors from the register except upon a court order. He said during an interaction with opinion leaders from the Tamale, the EC was informed by the opinion leaders that the minors registered in Tamale were registered in the strongholds of the two leading party. The EC Chairman said the issue of registered minors could be a source of conflict and that the EC was still dialoguing with all political parties to get them to advise their supporters who are minors to desist from voting on December 7.  He said minors registration was a crime and urged parents and teachers who knew their wards were registered minors to come forward so that their names could be deleted from the register. Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Chairperson of EFG, said everyone was concerned about the issue of registration of minors and appealed to the media to alert parents and teachers about the dangers of minors trying to vote.

GNA