Postpone the District Assembly Elections if the Current Voters Register is Not Credible – ChaLoG to EC

The Chamber for Local Governance (ChaLoG) has urged the Electoral Commission(EC) to postpone the upcoming district assembly elections if it deems the current biometric voters’ register “defective and not credible” for the 2020 general elections.

According to ChaLoG, if the EC strongly believes that the current voters register is not appropriate for the 2020 general elections, it should as well not use the same “defective” register for the district assembly elections..

“It is unthinkable and unconstitutional for the EC to purport to use a ‘defective and non-credible’ Biometric Voters Register to conduct the upcoming District Level Elections and yet go ahead to compile a new ‘non-defective and credible’ Biometric Voters Register to conduct the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections”

In a press statement released yesterday, signed by the President of the group, Dr Richard Fiadomor, and copied to ghananewsonline.com.gh, CHaLoG challenged the arguments raised by the EC to compile a new voters’ register for 2020 elections despite it being used successfully for other elections.

“ChaLoG finds the reasons and arguments being put up by the EC to compile a new Biometric Voters Register ahead of the 2020 General Elections to be very highly untenable in view of the fact that, it is this same ‘defective and non-credible’ Biometric Voters Register that has been used to conduct all the aforementioned successful elections in this country.”

They additionally expressed concerns on the decision by the EC to use the “defective” register for district assembly elections but not the general elections. According to the group, this create an wrong impression that the local governance elections is regarded “unimportant” to the body.

They asserted that “the EC should know or ought to have known that Ghana’s Constitution places the same premium on all elections in this country, be it District Level Elections or Presidential and/or Parliamentary Elections.”

“ChaLoG finds the decision by the EC to deliberately use a ‘defective and non-credible’ Biometric Voters Register to conduct the upcoming District Level Elections to be a very serious affront to Local Governance practice and a slap in the face of the 1992 Republican Constitution.”

ChaLoG therefore called on the general public to reject the compilation of a new biometric voters’ register for 2020 general elections, if the current one is successfully used to conduct the upcoming District Level Elections on December 17, 2019

Source: Jonas Danquah || ghananewsonline.com.gh