The Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday begun registration of prospective voters ahead of the December polls in a process dubbed: “continuous registration exercise.”
The exercise was carried across the district offices of the commission nationwide.
The EC in May registered 90 percent of 1.2 million voters it was targeting to capture onto the electoral register and had agreed to continue the exercise on August 19 and 26, 2016.
The continuous registration exercise is follows several appeals from civil society and political parties to the EC to extend the exercise claiming a lot of prospective voters will be disenfranchised if the exercise is halted.
However, a statement signed by Erick Kofi Dzakpasu, Head of Communications at the EC observed that the Friday’s exercise saw “higher than anticipated turnout of registrants at some centres.”
It also said a number of challenges including network problems and power outages compelled them to extend the closing time to “8:00pm across the country.” “All persons who are unable to register on August 19, would have another opportunity to register on Friday 26th August, 2016.”
The statement also added that “the exercise would be extended to Saturday 27th August 2016 to cater for areas with high numbers and backlogs created by system challenges.”
The Commission further urged persons with any issue and challenges regarding the exercise to forward their complaints to “the Commission either through the Communication Secretariat, Regional Directors or District Electoral Officers of the Commission.”
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