It appears the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has finally jettisoned its longstanding resistance to the compilation of a new voters’ register for the 2020 general election and beyond.
The main opposition party and its few allies have consistently resisted the compilation of the new electoral roll, threatening to scuttle the process even before it starts.
However, in what appears to be a complete U-turn, some leading NDC members yesterday eagerly took part in a pilot voter registration exercise ahead of a nationwide exercise, which is expected to take off later this month.
Volta Region NDC First Vice Chairman, Mr George Loh was said to be among the first batch of eligible voters who rushed to take part in the registration, which was seen as an open endorsement of the new voters’ register by the NDC.
Even before yesterday’s exercise, THE CUSTODIAN had gathered that the main opposition party had almost completed the training of its agents across the country to monitor the compilation of the new voters’ register.
Training of agents in the Greater Accra region was scheduled to end this week.
Pilot registration
The EC yesterday began a two-day pilot registration exercise at all its regional offices to test the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits, assess the protocols and other processes put in place to undertake a nationwide voter registration exercise.
This is to ensure a successful registration exercise and the conduct of peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections on December 7, 2020.
The election management body is expected to announce a date for a national pilot registration exercise at its head office in Accra.
Representatives of the various political parties are expected to be in attendance to observe the processes.
EC registration officials
Meanwhile, the EC yesterday a nationwide training exercise for 42,025 registration officials to equip them with the requisite skills and knowledge required for mass voter registration exercise.
The Commission’s regional directors and their deputies, as well as regional supervisors, deputy registration supervisors, district electoral officers and assistant electoral officers, were to be part of the exercise.
The exercise involved training for data entry clerks, laminators and those to be directly involved in the use of the BVR kits at the grass roots.
The officials would also be taken through the registration procedure, covering eligibility criteria, challenge procedures and the vouching process.
