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The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has announced that it is not feasible to extend the deadline for the ongoing limited voter registration exercise. Despite initial technical difficulties, the process has been running smoothly across the country.
The registration exercise, which began on May 7, 2024, is set to end on May 27, 2024. Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Samuel Tettey, Deputy EC Chair in Charge of Operations, emphasized that the 21-day period allotted for the exercise is sufficient. He noted that the large queues seen during the first week have reduced significantly, and mobile teams have been deployed to hard-to-reach areas to ensure all eligible voters can register.
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As of May 19, 2024, the EC had registered a total of 522,025 new voters, with 85.52% being first-time voters aged 18–21. The EC aims to register a total of 623,000 voters by the end of the exercise. The gender distribution of the registered voters shows 47.21% males and 52.79% females. Additionally, 813 persons with disabilities have been registered, and there have been 7,821 challenged cases across the country.
The regional breakdown of the registration figures is as follows:
- Greater Accra: 74,420 (14.3%)
- North East: 14,147 (2.7%)
- Upper East: 20,125 (3.9%)
- Northern: 47,948 (9.2%)
- Bono: 20,886 (4.0%)
- Bono East: 18,861 (3.6%)
- Volta: 26,486 (5.1%)
- Upper West: 15,652 (3.0%)
- Eastern: 48,563 (9.3%)
- Central: 56,141 (10.8%)
- Ahafo: 10,861 (2.1%)
- Ashanti: 90,480 (17.3%)
- Western North: 16,225 (3.1%)
- Oti: 14,844 (2.8%)
- Savannah: 12,767 (2.4%)
- Western Region: 33,609 (6.4%)
The EC has also refuted allegations by a group called Election Watch Ghana, which claimed that the EC was using “stolen” Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits to register voters secretly. Mr. Tettey clarified that only five laptops were stolen from the Commission, which cannot be used on their own to register voters.
The EC urges the public to disregard these baseless claims and continues to focus on ensuring a credible and efficient voter registration process.
