The Electoral Commission of Ghana has disclosed that persons under 18 years and foreigners are taking advantage of the guarantor system to register as voters in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
This was disclosed by Deputy Chairman of the commission, Dr. Bossman Asare while addressing the press on updates after the 16th day of the exercise.
Speaking at the press briefing, Dr. Bossman expressed worry over the use of the guarantor system in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise. He claimed some political parties are taking advantage of the development to get minors and foreigners registered.
The Electoral Commission failed in its attempt to persuade parliament to pass a newly proposed Constitutional Instrument (C.I) that allows only the national identification card commonly referred to as GhanaCard as the sole requirement for upcoming voter registration exercises.
The development has therefore allowed for the use of the other forms of identification, including the guarantor system in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise ahead of the upcoming district level elections which will take place in December this year.
Dr. Asare noted that, they have received reports with picture evidence from some of their district offices where minors and foreigners were trying to register through the guarantor system.
” We would like to use this opportunity to entreat parents to dissuade their wards who are less than eighteen years old to be coerced by anyone to assume a new age and register as a voter because they may find themselves on the wrong side of the law,” he remarked.
He however, noted that the EC will lay the C.I in parliament again and ensure that it is passed before the voter registration exercise for the 2024 general elections.
Meanwhile, the EC has announced that after day 16 of the ongoing voter registration exercise, 673,276 persons out of the targeted 700,000 persons to be registered during the 21-day exercise.
