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Press Release

LMVCA

May 06, 2016

 

SUPREME COURT VINDICATES LMVCA ON VOTERS REGISTER


The Supreme Court today ordered the Electoral Commission to delete from the electoral roll names of all dead people, minors and persons who used the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card to register to vote.
The Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) welcomes this landmark ruling by the Highest Court of the Land as victory for the victims of September 16 police brutalities, and all who fought for a credible register. The ruling by the Court has re-affirmed our long held position that the current voters’ register is not reasonably credible. Per the ruling of the Supreme Court, an estimated 5 million names are expected to be expunged from the register. This will be by far the biggest deletion of names from any electoral roll in Africa. It is a huge responsibility. EC has no choice but to comply. The question is how can the EC effectively get this done? Will the EC undertake another limited registration after the mass deletion of names? The EC told the Court that the only way it can identify and isolate the estimated over 4 million who registered using NHIS cards is to retrieve all the Form 1As that people filled at the point of registration.


The Court was quick to stress that the EC must comply with the ruling, failing which would amount to committing "high crime". But how will the EC do this with the time left for election? This is the critical question to which Ghanaians must demand immediate answer.


Will the political parties be involved in this search through all the millions Form 1A forms at the district level? Are the forms even intact? The EC has been giving doublespeak on this.


How does the EC intend to effectively identify all the dead and delete their details?


When will the EC practically delete these names and in time for the exhibition before compiling the final register for the 2016 elections?


When will the millions whose names are to be deleted be given the chance to register again and in time for the exhibition before compiling the final register for the 2016 general elections?

 

It looks like the best and only way the EC can comply successfully with the Court decision is to do what its own "panel of experts" recommended in their report: validation, authentication or verification of every registered voter. The Court has ordered for the register to be completely purged and respecting the EC's independence, left it to the EC to decide how best to delete and re-register the Ghanaians whose names will be deleted. Those Ghanaians MUST NOT BE DISENFRANCHISED! The EC cannot hold the 2016 election unless it cleans the register by doing the deletion ordered by the highest court of the land.


Already, the EC has planned to deploy verification machines in all polling stations for the exhibition. This means the hardware and personnel are all in place.
If the EC means well it will make this verification or validation whether before or during the exhibition period MANDATORY by passing a CI (Regulation) to that effect.
This is similar to the law, CI 75, which said in 2012 that NVNV: every voter must be first biometrically verified before being allowed to vote.


The LMVCA will like to urge the EC to take immediate action. The EC should call an emergency IPAC meeting to urgently discuss with the parties the best way to do what the Supreme Court has ordered. Per this historic ruling, it has become clear that the EC CANNOT hold the 2016 elections Unless and Until it does what the apex court has ordered. This is a major victory for giving us a credible register.

Now the Court has done it's bit, the EC must comply and help give Ghana a free, fair and peaceful polls in 2016.

Let my vote count, don't destroy our democracy!!

Signed

David Asante
(Convener)
0268 220220

 

 

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