‘Even one vote is bad enough for EC to undermine the whole process – Asah-Asante on alleged bloated register

The illegal transfer of a single vote is enough for the Electoral Commission (EC) to undermine the integrity of the upcoming polls, a Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, has asserted.

The lecturer has established the importance of numbers in an election, explaining that a single vote can cause a difference, making the calls for the forensic audit of the roll necessary.

According to him, conducting the audit will build people’s confidence in the electoral system and deepen the nation’s democracy.

He said an audit “gives people the confidence to believe in the system, trusting that what they will churn out will be a true reflection of the people’s mandate and that will engender confidence and deepens the democratic process.”

Speaking on Ghana Tonight with Alfred Ocansey Monday, September 23, 2024, he said “the issues that the NDC are raising relative to the problems with the register, they’re are not things that can be swept under the carpet. They are talking about illegal transfer of votes, the fact that people also tampered with the system and certain numbers that are associated with the illegal transfer and the rest of them.”

He continued that, “even one is bad enough for the Electoral Commission to undermine the whole process. So, once these things have been brought to the fore, giving the circumstances surrounding it, and that the NDC doesn’t want to address these things with the Electoral Commission, I think the best way out is that, call for the audit, audit it and all the key actors will be happy with that.”

The concerns come over the EC and NDC’s milieu over the call for a forensic audit over the voters’ register which the party has described as bloated.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 hit the streets across all the regions in the country and presented a petition to the EC’s regional offices demanding a forensic audit of the voters’ roll.

The NDC had said that the integrity of the roll had been compromised, having detected some illegal transfer of voters from one constituency to the other without the knowledge of the persons involved.

After presenting its evidence to the EC, the Commission told the NDC that the errors have all been rectified.

Meanwhile, the NDC is asking the Commission to involve a third party to conduct a forensic audit, saying there are more illegal transfers, amid the EC’s refusal to provide evidence of what it claims it has corrected after the attention was drawn to the anomalies.

Source:onuaonline.com