A national demonstration against purported inconsistencies in the voter list was organized by Ghana’s largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Tuesday.
The party demanded an independent forensic audit to remove errors from the register in order to ensure free and fair elections.
To choose a new president for Nana Akufo-Addo, who will retire in January after serving the eight years required by the constitution, voters in the country that produces cocoa and gold in West Africa will go to the polls on December 7.
Current Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party will face former President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC in the election.
The leaders of the NDC party claimed that the electoral commission had compromised the integrity of the register by forcibly moving voters to other polling places without their knowledge.
Thousands of supporters, dressed in red and black, marched through Accra’s main streets as campaign songs and reggae music blasted from loudspeakers.
They demanded that foreign organizations, the Ghana Peace Council, and civil society and religious organizations to step in.
Leaders of the protests delivered petitions to parliament and the Accra electoral agency. Protests were also held in Ghana’s other fifteen regions.
Pusiga, a village in northeastern towns, had a district director canceled in August for “using his credentials to transfer voters without their knowledge.”
Though the opposition claimed the government greatly influenced the results of the last election, which the government disputed, eight people lost their lives in what is considered to be one of the most stable democracies in Africa.
The election authority’s reputation suffers when irregularities are alleged. Ghana’s election commission is viewed with historic low trust, compared to 1999, according to a July survey conducted by the pan-African research group Afrobarometer.
The EC’s pledge to strive for an open and equitable process may help to reduce concerns around the voter registration as the December elections draw near.
The EC’s reaction shows that it is prepared to work with more parties to address these issues.
Stakeholders will be closely monitoring the Commission’s progress in finalizing the registry, though, including the NDC.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the head of the NDC party, declared to demonstrators that he want “nothing but transparent elections.”
“We want Ghana’s democracy to succeed because it is facing a severe test. Anything that could lead us into a larger conflict needs to be eliminated by war.”
BY: APPIANIMAA MERCY
