The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has no qualms with the reopening of the electoral roll to register citizens to vote as long as all processes leading up to the election are lawful.
The 2020 Campaign Manager of the NPP, Peter Mac Manu, said he expects the Electoral Commission to abide by the Public Elections Regulations, 2016.
These regulations, among others, state that the EC “shall include in the register of voters, the name of a person who qualifies for registration as a voter and is registered but shall not include in the register of voters the name of a person who qualifies to register as a voter for an election but who registers less than sixty days to that election.”
The time limit is given because the law also mandates the EC to “register voters on a continuous basis.”
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Mac Manu felt this would be a simple law to hold the Commission accountable to.
“If you calculate from December 7 and backwards, we will know the cut-off point when anyone who is registered cannot vote so the EC is within the law so what is the big deal?”
The electoral roll will be reopened on October 1 to allow specific groups of people who are yet to be captured in the register to do so at the EC’s district offices nationwide.
These are expected to include eligible voters who were outside the country due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Mr. Mac Manu further downplayed concerns from the National Democratic Congress about names allegedly being deleted from the register.
He said his party supporters have also reported instances of their names being missing from the register during the voter register exhibition exercise.
“The thing is when we see it, we take steps to correct it as demanded by the law. When you see it, just fill the appropriate form and it will be corrected,” he noted.
The same Public Elections Regulations indicate that “any person whose application for registration during the registration period was accepted but whose name and other particulars do not appear in the provisional register of voters may make a claim as set out in Form Six of the Schedule for the name and particulars of that person to be entered in the provisional register.”
