The National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party, Sammy Awuku says the party is focused on winning the December polls amid opposition against the compilation of the new voters’ register.
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday announced that the registration will take place in all polling stations and EC offices across the country.
Political parties in the country have shared divergent opinions on the Electoral Commission’s decision to begin the compilation of a new voters’ register on June 30.
Ahead of the exercise the leadership of the governing New Patriotic Party is touring all sixteen Regions to train its party officers for the registration exercise.
Sammy Awuku reiterated their resolve in educating their party members on the electoral process.
“In as much as they need to work as party agents in collaboration with the electoral commission, we also will have to open our eyes to ensure that nobody also takes the New Patriotic Party for granted during the exercise.”
“We also came to educate them and train them on the do’s and don’ts at registration centres, so that they also do not fall foul of the law and also do not become agents of distraction or disruptions at the various registration centres,” he said.
However, the opposition National Democratic Congress, says it will continue to resist the new voters roll even though it cannot stop its members from registering.
The Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Peter Boamah Otokunor in an interview with Citi News said: “I think the idea to register or not to register and to vote and not to vote does not rely on whether the party, NDC, decides to announce or tell his people to do so or not. It’s a constitutional right that is granted in every individual, and every individual is enjoined to exercise that right.”
“Just as the Electoral Commission cannot restrict, infringe, or disallow anybody from exercising that right, I don’t think we the NDC can also infringe on anybody’s right to register and vote,” he added.
NPP parliamentary election
The New Patriotic Party has slated June 20, 2020, for its parliamentary primaries in 168 constituencies across the country.
Sixty-five aspirants are going unopposed in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary primaries.
The list of unopposed aspirants includes Defence Minister; Dominic Nitiwul, Minister for Education; Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Minister for Works and Housing; Samuel Atta Akyea who are vying for the Bimbilla, Manhyia South and Abuakwa South seats respectively.
The party on April 14, 2020, suspended its planned April 25, 2020, parliamentary primaries indefinitely in accordance with the President’s ban on public gatherings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.