The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the
Electoral Commission (EC) to increase its consensus building efforts, especially
with political parties. “As a stakeholder, we wish to receive formal
correspondence from the commission on activities that we are required to play a
part instead of through the media so as to help in getting our members and the
general public to participate fully,’’ the party’s acting General Secretary, Mr
John Boadu has stated.
In a statement, he declared that as ‘ we approach
the election, it is expected that the commission would be more transparent and
ensure inclusiveness of stakeholders in its activities.’’
Urgent
redress
Expressing some concerns for urgent redress as the commission
prepared towards the 2016 General Election, Mr Boadu said the party had
observed that the commission was commencing voter registration in prisons across
the country per letters emanating from some district offices.
However, he
said there had been no notification to political parties to inform them so that
they have the opportunity to monitor the process as had been the
practice.
Second, Mr Boadu requested the EC to make known the modalities
in place towards foreign registrations for this year's election, as well as
particulars of the existing foreign registrations done earlier by the
commission.
Third, he noted that a release from the commission on
challenges encountered with the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration on the
August 19 exercise and the decision to extend the registration hours to 8 p.m.
on that day and an additional day extention to the August 27
2016.
Consultation
The general secretary said the NPP wish that
much as the C.I 91 granted this activity of the Commission in consultation with
political parties, the parties would have been duly notified and consulted
before any such decisions were taken.
Fourth, Mr Boadu stated that the
procedures announced for proxy vote had to be reviewed, explaining that the
commission’s directive that a prospective proxy could go to the commission and
pick up forms for the applicant should not be the case because of the inherent
abuse.
"I refer to Regulation 25 (2) of C.I 94 which states that "The
applicant shall complete a proxy form set out in Form Six of the Schedule". What
this means is that nobody can make or complete proxy forms on behalf of an
applicant,’’ Mr Boadu declared.
The commission, he said, had also decided
to do this exercise at all district offices and the headquarters and wondered
why the EC headquarters must be part of this as it's not even a registration
centre.
Mr Boadu urged the Commission to engage the parties on this
exercise to ensure effective monitoring, adding that an early response to the
concerns is anticipated. |
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