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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said the Electoral Commission (EC) fears to release the final voter register for this year’s election.

According to the party, officials of the EC are reluctant to make the document available because they are afraid the NDC will expose more discrepancies in the register.

At a meeting with civil society organisations and election stakeholders on Monday, September 23, the NDC’s Director of Elections and IT, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the posturing of the EC raises questions about the credibility of the Commission and transparency of the electoral process.

“They [EC] can’t start printing the register without giving us a copy. I feel they are afraid to release the register to us because they don’t know what more discrepancies we will expose,” he stated.

Dr. Omane Boamah who once served as Ghana’s Minister of Communications reiterated the need for a credible register, saying the Electoral Commission’s failure to make the final register available to the party fuels suspicions.

He said there could be more inherent issues within the Commission, which demands an audit of not just the register but the entire I.T. system of the EC.

“The EC has not released the final voter register to the political party, but it claims it has resolved all our (NDC) concerns without knowing them,” Dr. Boamah wondered, while indicating that political parties deserve to have access to the voter register.

The National Democratic Congress earlier petitioned the Electoral Commission after a nationwide protest to demand an independent audit of the register.

It was after several assurances by the electoral management body that all errors and discrepancies in the provisional register have been corrected.

The EC says it will look into the demands and observations made by the NDC and respond at the appropriate time.

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By Christian Yalley