Dr. Asare Bossman, a Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana has advised all political parties to have their records so that they can readily compare to whichever data the EC releases to the political parties.
Dr. Bossman’s comments come on the back of the a recent recommendation given to the EC by the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), stating that there should be a multi-party forensic audit of the Electoral Commission’s IT system in order to combat any anomalies that may occur prior to the December 7 elections.
The Electoral Commission, on Tuesday October 1 engaged all political parties, presidential candidates, members of the diplomatic corps as well as donor parties to address concerns raised by the NDC over the credibility of the register.
At the meeting, the Chairperson of the EC maintain that, all discrepancies of detected during the exhibition of the Provisional Voter’s register had already been resolved. This, according to Madam Jean Mensah, is to ensure a robust, credible, transparent and workable voter’s register.
In an exclusive interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Morning on Wednesday, October 2, Dr. Bossman said, “our voting is not more technologically based. We have a database of all registered voters which is transmitted to all electoral offices on manual basis with copies given to all political parties.
"All parties must have their own records to compare it to what the electoral commission will issue to avoid the occurrence of allegations of manipulations.”
“All parties have been given the voter’s register used for the 2020 elections. We have also announced the number of additions done to the register. Once you have this data, you can compare it to what you have so that if there is anything untoward, you have the basis of comparison.
“All parties should compare the register to their internal data. The EC has no interest in rigging the election,” Dr. Bossman said.
He explained that, considering the limited time left to the December 7 elections, it will be difficult to grant the request of a multiparty forensic audit[PA1] of the register adding that, the various political parties should be able to align whatever data the EC gives to the parties with their internal data.