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Despite a clear decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) that it will not extend the days for the limited voters’ registration, the chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Emmanuel Asante feels, there is still a good reason for an extension.

The EC has said 92 percent of the targeted number of registrants was captured in the just ended exercise; hence no need for an extension.nBut speaking to Citi News, the chairman of the council, Most Rev. Emmanuel Asante said he supports the calls by affected groups who want the date extended. 

He said the “EC should consider the appeals that have been made by the students considering the fact that they were not at fault in not registering.”

“They have submitted an appeal, stating the problems that they had and I think it will be good if the EC looks at it carefully and see what they can do for them,” he added.

Officials turn away scores in Ashanti Region

Scores of residents in some constituencies in the Ashanti Region were turned away from registering in the just ended limited voter registration exercise for trying to register at the eleventh hour.

80% eligible student voters couldn’t register

The University of Ghana Students’ Representative Council (SRC), had also revealed that nearly 80 percent of their students were unable to register in the exercise hence the need for an extension.

Such has been the call from student bodies, political parties and civil society organisations who believe the extension of the exercise will help clear the backlog of unregistered potential voters.

Extending registration period unnecessary

But the the Electoral Commission insists that there will be no need for an extension.

“If you look at analysis by the statistical service, we were trying to achieve a target of 1.2 million that is the register-able population. Fortunately at the end of the exercise, the figures that we had from the three regions indicate that we have 1, 105,686 which represents about 92% so our targets have really been achieved,” the Director of Electoral Services, Samuel Tetteh explained.