Election Expert Backs EC Move To Register New Voters

An election observer has dismissed assertions by political parties that the 2012 voters register is unreliable. John Larbi insists the register is a good one and the Electoral Commission can continue with the registration of new voters. The political parties in unison are kicking against the decision by the Electoral Commission to open the registration for first time voters next month. The General Secretaries of the NDC, the NPP and the CPP have jointly demanded an emergency Inter Party Advisory Committee meeting on the impending registration. On Thursday, the PNC took the protest further issuing a two week ultimatum to the EC to suspend the exercise or face legal action. At least two civil society groups, the Danquah Institute and Coalition for Free, Fair and Transparent Elections have also issued statements with similar demands. Critics claim the EC gave different figures in 2012 as the total number of people on the voters register. "The total number of registered voters that the EC furnished the NPP was 14,031,680. Subsequently, on Sunday, 9 December 2012, the EC declared the total number of registered voters as 14,158,890. Furthermore, on the same date, the EC posted on its website the total number of registered voters as 14,031,793. The Chairman of the EC, during the trial, could not provide cogent reasons for this discrepancy,� Boakye Agyarko a member of the NPP is quoted to have said. The critics are demanding that the EC fixes the discrepancies before going ahead with the new registrations. But John Larbi explained the concerns by the parties are not legitimate. "What is the meaning of the credibility of the register? The 2012 register is a good register and was biometrically done," he stated. He said the parties cannot continue to impugn the integrity of the register. "If it's bad, clean it," he noted adding the parties can help by auditing the register when the time comes for the register to be cleaned. "As far as I know the EC would still want to revise the register and display it for cleaning." "Allow the registration to go and pay more attention to the auditing," he advised the parties.