Electoral Commission gives breakdown of Voters Register ahead of December 7 polls
The Electoral Commission says a total of 21,887 persons will not be allowed to vote on Election Day, December 7, 2020.
The number consists of persons who engaged in multiple registrations, as well as persons who conducted various forms of electoral malpractices.
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Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, November 30, 2020, the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa said the names have been published on two separate lists; "Exceptions List" and "Multiples Lists" and have been made available to the political parties.
Exceptions list
Mrs Mensa said the Exceptions list, which is made up of 13,997 persons, includes unique individuals who conducted various forms of electoral malpractices including underage registration, registration by foreigners, and registration by persons not ordinarily resident in the area where they registered.
She also dismissed reports suggesting that the Commission had deliberately removed persons from the register and placed them on the exceptions list.
Multiples List
According to Mrs Mensa, a total of 7,890 unique individuals engaged in multiple registrations.
“By its name this list refers to the number of multiple registrations done by unique individuals. It does not refer to unique individuals. As such, if a person registered five (5) times, all five registrations will be recorded on the list although the five registrations were undertaken by one person,” she explained.
She said the list was generated by the ABIS system when it detects multiple registrations by a unique individual when the same set of fingerprints appears for persons bearing different names.
“The system picks this up and isolates the registrant. This is not done by staff of the commission,” she stressed.
Transparency
According to Mrs Mensa, it was not the practice of the EC to publish the Multiples and Exceptions List but “in the spirit of transparency the Commission has decided to publish both lists on its website.”
“Both lists add up to a total number of 21,887 unique individuals. For the information of the general public, the Exceptions and Multiples List prior to the 2016 election amounted to some 800,000 persons. They were banned from voting in the 2016 Elections. Today these persons have been given another opportunity to register and vote,” she noted.
Main register
According to the EC Chairperson, a total of 17,027,641 persons are expected to take part in this year's general election.
She said the number comprised 8,810,283 females, representing 51.74 per cent of total voters and 8,217,358 males, representing 48.26 per cent.
Giving a breakdown of the total number of registrants in across the 16 regions, Mrs Mensa noted that the Greater Accra Region had the highest number of registrants, while the North East Region had the least.
According to Mrs Mensa, the voters register, together with all the other lists, were presented to all the political parties on Saturday November 7, 2020.
Breakdown per region
Greater Accra Region - 3,528,996
Ashanti Region - 3,019,178
Eastern Region - 1,641,050
Central Region - 1,567,756
Western Region - 1,187,333
Northern Region - 1,050,016
Volta Region - 924,116
Upper East Region - 659,317
Bono Region - 653,378
Bono East Region - 594,610
Upper West Region - 469,753
Western North Region - 468,683
Oti Region - 358,552
Ahafo Region - 316,970
Savannah Region -298,404
North East Region - 289,529
Missing names list
According to Mrs Mensa, the Commission had also generated a “Missing names list”, capturing the names and details of persons whose registrations were challenged but later overturned by the court, those who were placed in wrong polling stations and persons whose names were not captured in the final voters register.
She said the list consisted of 830 names and that the list would be made available at the various polling stations where they registered to enable them to vote.
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Manual verification
Mrs Mensa added that 542 persons would be made to vote via manual verification.
She said the names were identified after a reconciliation of the number of persons who actually registered with the number of persons on the voters register.
Verification
Mrs Mensa also urged the public to verify their voter registration details which have been published on the Commission’s website, https://registers.ec.gov.gh or dial the USSD code *711*2020#.
“The publication of the Final Voters Register in these two electronic formats will enable Voters ascertain their Polling Station details to enable them go through a seamless voting process on election day,” she said.