The New Juaben South constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have expressed satisfaction with the number of new voters registered so far by the Electoral Commission.
Selassie Amuzu, New Juaben South Constituency Chairman of the NDC, spoke to the media, expressing his satisfaction.
“So far in New Juaben South it has been very smooth, but the beginning of the exercise was marred with challenges as machines were not working efficiently, which could have been avoided. However, we thank God that they added two days. We have put measures in place to ensure that every qualified voter in New Juaben South is registered. Our expectations by the close of registration will be very much satisfied because we had a target and we are just almost achieving our target,” said Amuzu.
Similarly, Sampson Larbi, in charge of Election Research for the NPP in New Juaben South, also conveyed his satisfaction with the number of new voters registered in the constituency. “As a researcher, you need to have a target, and we have met our target by 70% to 80%.so we are satisfied”.
The Electoral Commission commenced its limited voter registration exercise on Tuesday, May 7, targeting first-time voters and those seeking to obtain a voter card. However, due to challenges with online registration, the Commission announced the commencement of offline voter registration on May 9, 2024. Despite the shift to offline registration, delays and long queues persisted at registration centers, leading to incomplete registrations before the end of each day.
In response to these issues, the Electoral Commission extended the registration period by an additional two days, ending today, May 29. Many new applicants were seen in the queue at the New Juaben South Office on Tuesday.
Rocklyn, a resident of New Juaben South who traveled during the exercise, took advantage of the extension to register. “I traveled during the exercise but didn’t want to register there, so when I returned, I decided to register today. The extension has helped me,” Rocklyn said.
Meanwhile ,a Senior Journalist in Eastern Region Kojo Ansah was expelled from the voter registration center at the New Juaben South office of the Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday May 28.
This incident occurred following Ansah’s previous reports exposing the EC’s failure to remove minors from the voter register.
The expulsion was ordered by Municipal EC Director Kofi Asante Owusu and executed by police.
The Journalist had previously reported on the case of Martin Yaw Boateng, whose children—aged 14 and 12—were unlawfully registered in 2020 but despite request from the parent for names the minors expunged, EC failed hence when the now 18 year old son attempted to properly register on May 11 , he was arrested for double registration but released later sparking protest by the father.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
