Chairman of the electoral commission, Dr Kwadwo
Afari-Gyan, has announced that updated biometric voters' register will
be available for public display – and electronically – for voters and the
political parties to check. It will be the first time that Ghana has made the
electoral roll available with more than four months to go before the national
elections on 7 December. All the 23,000 centres where prospective voters were
registered during the registration period will be opened for anyone to
cross-check their data, make corrections, and also ensure that their names are
in the voter roll.
Huge hopes are pinned on the credibility of the new bio-metric
system as a means of countering electoral fraud. Combined with the new census,
which has cut significantly the number of people in the central Ashanti region
which is a stronghold of the opposition NPP, the biometric register should
introduce more accountability into the electoral process.
Afari-Gyan has unsurprisingly, however, come under increasing
attack from opposition parties and civic society groups for acquiescing to the
ruling NDC's proposals to create 45 new constituencies. This will only increase
the number of parliamentary seats to 275 which is regarded by many Ghanaians as
an intolerable burden on the public purse. Ghana's parliament and its MPs are
widely derided as lazy and corrupt and have won little public respect during the
multi-party era.
For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana
Politics & Security.
© 2012 Menas Associates
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