Following the two-day pilot registration exercise ahead of the Electoral Commission’s intended compilation of a new voters’ register later this month, the Central Regional director of the EC, Madam Philomena Edusei has forecasted a 99% success rate for the main exercise.
The pilot exercise which spanned two days was held in fifteen regions except for the Western region where some technical hitches were recorded. The exercise was to test the efficacy of machines to be used in the mass voter registration exercise for the 2020 general election.
Madam Philomena Edusei speaking to ATLFMNews on her assessment of the exercise in the region said about 150 electorates were successfully registered.
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“On Tuesday due to the rains, we were able to register 43 but for Wednesday, we registered over 100 people making a total of about 150 people in all.”
She explained that except some initial technical hiccups the exercise suffered, the process was very smooth.
“When we started, we had a few challenges but they were resolved. The technicians here called the head office of the EC and they were told what to do, so on Wednesday we did not face any challenge.”
Speaking on the registration, Madam Philomena Edusei noted that the process was swift as each electorate spent very little time in registering. She added that “anybody who took part in the piloting will attest that the process was very fast; once you put your finger on the machine it’s faster than the previous one”.
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Madam Edusei was hopeful the mass registration to commence later this month would be efficient, forecasting a 99% success rate. She said, “even though it’s a machine we are dealing with, we are sure that all the challenges that came and up have been fixed; I say we will get 99% success”.
The decision to compile a new voters’ register has met stiff opposition from the biggest opposition party, NDC with others as well as Civil Society groups. Irrespective of the opposition, there are reports of members of the NDC participating in the pilot registration exercise.
ATLFMNEWS
