Pilot voter registration a success, but...
The Electoral Commission (EC) last saturday successfully carried out a pilot voter registration exrcise to test the upgraded Biometric Voter Registration Kits in readiness for the limited voter registration exercise scheduled for April 28 to May 8.
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Reports from our correspondents in the regions indicate that turnout was high, with most of the registration centres recording more than the expected 50 prospective voters.
In spite of the apparent success of the exercise, some political observers said there were still some loose ends that needed to be tied before the limited registration exercise to ensure that all legible voters are properly captured to enable them to vote in the Novermber 7 elections.
From Ashaiman, Benjamin Xornam Glover reports that some representatives of political parties which monitored the registration exercise in Greater Accra Region said the EC should have made available a full complement of logistics needed for the real exercise to test the robustness of the kits.
While the Director of Election of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, bemoaned the restriction to only 50 registration forms for the pilot phase, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Mr Emmanuel Agyarko Kyeremanteng, expressed concern about the absence of guarantors forms at the registration centers.
Interview
Speaking to journalists at the Lord’s Pentecostal Church registration centre at Ashaiman, Mr Ampofo said the number of forms should have been higher to test the robustness of the kit under all conditions.
"We felt that the EC should have given its officers unlimited number of forms so that as many people as possible could be registered to test the equipment and also check if it can work under pressure conditions," he said.
He, however indicated that since it was a pilot exercise, the NDC would go back and engage with the EC with its findings at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) level
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Mr Kyeremanteng said, "If you are piloting something, my expectation is that the full complement of whatever is needed when the real exercise comes up must be made available in the pilot."
He called on the EC to address the issue of which form of identity cards could be used by a prospective voter to acquire a voter identification card.
The Ashaiman Municipal Officer of the EC, Mr Stephen Reynolds expressed satisfaction at the outcomes of the exercise. He said the the Commission had taken note of the problems and would address them before the main limited registration exercise would be held.
From the Western Region, our correspondent, Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu, reports that the exercise in the region held at Kwesimintsim in the Seknodi/Takoradi Metropolis and Mpohor in the Mpohor District ended without any hitches.
At the end of the exercises, a total of 101 new voters were registered, made up of 50 new voters at the Mpohor centre – Police Station, Sompaduase and 51 in the Sekondi/Takoradi at the Catholic Day Care Centre at Kwesimintsim.
Present at the two pilot centres were representatives of various political parties who were seen interacting cheerfully until the end of the exercise.
The exercise in the two selected districts of the Upper West Region (UWR) went on as planned last Saturday with each of the polling centres exceeding its target, Emmanuel Mordey reports.
They are the Wa Technical Institute in the Wa Municipal and the Loho Junior High School in the Nadowli-Kaleo District. Instead of the required target number of 50 registered voters, Wa Municipal had 58 voters while Nadowli-Kaleo recorded 52 voters. Voting started at 9a.m. and ended at 4:00p.m.
The UWR Director of Electoral Commission, Mr Philip Serebour Quarcoe, said the impressive turn-out could be attributed to the various interactions and communication the EC made with the various political parties at the regional and constituency levels throughout the region.
From Bolgatanga,Alhandu Abdul-Hamid, reports that the registration exercise witnessed appreciable patronage at the ZAMSTEC and Salibga registration centres in the Bolgatanga Central and Bongo constituencies in the Upper East Region.
The exercise, which took off at a slow pace at 9:47 a.m. at the ZAMSTEC registration centre saw three people going through the registration process as of 10:21 a.m. with just a few people in the queue.
At the Salibga Junior High School registration centre in the Bongo Constituency 20 people had gone through the process as at 11 a.m.
The numbers gradually increased with Bolgatanga Constituency eventually recording 60 voters whilst the Bongo Constituency recorded 61.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr. Frank Adjei Mensah, who was the third person to go through the registration process at the ZAMSTEC registration centre, expressed satisfaction at the pace of the exercise but indicated the taking of photographs was a bit slow.
Representatives of the NDC, NPP, Convention People’s Party (CPP), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) were there to monitor the exercise.
From Tamale, Samuel Duodu reports that the exercise went on smoothly at the Yendi Senior High School and the Sang Islamic Primary School, in the Yendi and Mion constituencies respectively, the two centres selected for the exercise in the Northern Region.
At Yendi the exercise started at 9a.m. and endled at 1:06 p.m. with 50 people registering.
There were no people in the queue when the forms got finished.
The exercise was supervised by Mr. Ernest Opoku, the Yendi Municipal Electoral Officer, and Mr. Benjamin Bano-Bio, the Deputy Regional Electoral Officer.
Agents of the NDC and NPP were at the centre to witnessed the exercise.
From Kato/Wamfie, Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah reports that the exercise in the Brong Ahafo Region took place successfully at Kato and Wamfie in Berekum East and the Dormaa East constituencies respectively.
The exercise at the R.C Primary School and the Local Council Hall at Kato and Wamfie respectively started as scheduled at 9:00 a.m. with few people arriving at the centres to take part in the exercise.
During the exercise, officials of the EC tested a number of scenarios to verify the durability and efficiency of their machines.
Scenarios
The first of the scenarios which involved how to avoid a multiple registration was done when a registered voter was allowed to register for the second time after the machine had been put off and switched on again.
The machine was able to detect that that person had already registered.
In the second instance the machine did not allow a re-print of the identity card of a voter who, after registration, came back about two hours later to request for another card because he had lost the first one.
In the third instance, the machine was able to register someone with a traumatised fingers while in the fourth scenario, the machine was able to detect someone who used wrong serial number of a driver’s incence as his identity to register.
There were representatives of the various political parties at both the Kato and Wamfie centres.
Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor reports from Asokore Mampong that the exercise in the Ashanti Region progressed smoothly at the Old Palace of Asokore Mampong.
Though there were very few people at the time of the visit of the Daily Graphic to the polling centre, the electoral district officer, Ms Gladys Pinkrah, expressed satisfaction at the exercise.
As at 3 p.m., 50 people had registered and this, she said, was very encouraging, “looking at the time the information for the exercise came”.
“We have not had any problem with our machines and we hope it will be the same during the main exercise, " she said.