NDC Urges Electoral Commission to Re-exhibit 2024 Voters Register Following Discrepancies

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a re-exhibition of the 2024 voters register to address multiple discrepancies discovered during the recent voter exhibition exercise. Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the NDC’s Director of Elections and IT, made this request during an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Friday, expressing concerns over the potential impact on the integrity of the upcoming general elections.

Dr. Boamah revealed that the NDC had compared the 2023 voters register with the provisional 2024 register, uncovering widespread errors. “In this meeting, we seek to share with you our observations so far, from comparing voters in the 2023 register with the 2024 provisional register,” he explained, emphasizing the party’s concerns about the anomalies and their potential implications for a credible election.

The NDC is now calling for a forensic audit of the 2020, 2023, and 2024 voters registers to pinpoint the root causes of the discrepancies. Dr. Boamah stressed the importance of expanding the audit scope, explaining, “The reason for widening the scope to include pre-2024 registers is anchored in the possibility that some of the anomalies could be traced to the parent document in 2020.”

The EC had previously released the provisional voters register for public exhibition from August 20 to 27, 2024. However, due to the discrepancies identified during the exercise, the NDC is advocating for an additional 5-day re-exhibition after a forensic audit is completed, giving voters another opportunity to verify their information and ensure the accuracy of the register.

Dr. Boamah highlighted that the goal is to ensure the credibility of the December 7, 2024, elections, stressing that an independent forensic audit is essential. He added, “Given the EC’s admission of mistakes and errors, an independent forensic audit of the voter register to ensure transparency and confer credibility will restore trust in the EC.” He noted that internal directives from the EC pointed to significant discrepancies between data from the headquarters and data collected on the field, further emphasizing the need for an audit.

In his remarks, Dr. Boamah explained that while the NDC would have preferred to avoid such a drastic measure, the current situation made a forensic audit unavoidable and “non-negotiable.” He concluded by stating that a thorough investigation into the voter register would help resolve questions surrounding voter transfers and the discrepancies between regional and headquarters data, ensuring a fair and transparent electoral process.

Full statement below: