The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to abandon plans to use the Ghana Card as the sole voter registration document.
According to the party, the EC must follow calls from civil society organizations, Ghanaians, and former Chair Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan to keep the guarantor system in the electoral identification system.
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According to Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, National Chairman of the NDC, the National Identity Registration law allows for the guarantor system as an identification mechanism, and the EC must follow suit.
“Why would the EC insist on using the Ghana Card as the sole document for voter registration when the National Identity Register law allows for the use of the guarantor system as an identification mechanism?”
“In the interest of our democracy and development, the Jean Mensa-led EC should once agree with the opposition NDC, Civil Society Organizations, and other well-meaning Ghanaians, including the venerable Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Ghana’s longest-serving former Chairman of the Electoral Commission and foremost authority on electoral issues, who insists on the guarantor system remaining in our electoral system.”
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Mr. Asiedu Nketiah made the remarks during the NDC’s ‘True State of the Nation Address’ press conference on Monday.
The European Commission has announced major changes to voter registration and voting two years before the next general election.
These will have an impact on the source documents for voter registration and the voter ID system, and will go into effect with the maturation of a yet-to-be-drafted constitutional instrument.
While dismissing claims that the Ghana Card will be used as voter identification in 2024, the Commission insisted that the Ghana Card would be the sole document for limited and continuous voter registrations.
The EC believes that the guarantor system is riddled with problems and that it can no longer provide a secure system of voter registration for the country, insisting that the guarantor system for obtaining a Ghana card is more robust.
The EC, according to Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, cannot be trusted with these new electoral amendments.
Due to the difficulties in obtaining the Ghana card, the EC has urged the National Identification Authority to expedite the printing of Ghana cards so that prospective voters can register to vote.
