Guarantor system creating loopholes to register minors -EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) has pointed out that the guarantor system continued to dominate the forms of identification used in the ongoing exercise as in the 2023 exercise, the Deputy Chairman of the Commission in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Bossman Asare, has disclosed.

“This is something the commission is not proud of because it is used by local parties and certain persons to facilitate the registration of unqualified persons such as minors and foreigners,” he said.

He explained that the current confusion at the registration centres across the country was attributable to the guarantor system.

Giving the percentages of the forms of identification for the first five days of the registration exercise, he said the Ghana Card so far had been used by 98,926 applicants, constituting 39.39 per cent.

The passport had been used by 622 applicants, constituting 0.25 per cent, while the guarantor system had been used by 151,601 applicants, constituting 60.36 per cent.

He added that the challenge cases for the first six days of the exercise appeared to be evenly distributed.

In nominal terms, he said, the Greater Accra Region had the highest with 524 challenge cases, while the North East Region had the lowest with nine.

As a percentage of the total registered in each region, the Volta Region had the highest at 4.29 per cent and the North East had the lowest at 0.13 per cent. Highlighting the challenge cases in each region, Dr Asare said Greater Accra had 524, North East had nine, Upper East had 37, Northern had 130, Bono had 43, Bono East had 126, Volta had 523, Upper West had 106, Eastern had 400, Central had 274, Ahafo had 117, Ashanti had 341, Western North had 53, Oti had 140, Savannah had 37, while Western had 75, giving the national total of 2,935, constituting 1.17 per cent of the total registered number of applicants.

Dr Asare said the commission had addressed the technical challenges that registrants encountered in the first two days of the exercise. He said measures had been put in place to ensure a smooth experience for registrants.

“We wish to use this opportunity to tell the political parties and guardians in general that the technical challenges we had have been resolved, and the commission believes anyone who wants to register to vote should be able to do so in his or her district,” he said.

He added that the commission welcomed constructive criticisms from the political parties and civil society organisations, saying this would strengthen its work.