Three teenagers have cautioned the EC over its plan to use their district offices for the upcoming limited registration exercise.
The EC will from June 7 to 27, 2019 hold a limited voter registration exercise for new voters ahead of the referendum on the constitutional amendments to ensure the election of Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and election 2020.
The EC has insisted on using its district offices for the exercise despite protests from the various political parties and civil society organizations hence reducing the number of centers from 6000 to 250.
Three teenagers Jean Ebenezer 19, Agnes Esther Lamptey 19, Abdul Latif Husein 18 who have indicated their interest in partaking in the exercise are however of the opinion that the district offices of the EC are unsuitable for the registration exercise.
In an application for judicial review filed on their behalf by lawyer Elikplim Agbemava, the three teenagers wondered why the EC is using their offices for the exercise when the district offices neither serve as polling, collation centers nor for any electoral activity.
Lawyer Agbemava in the suit argued that the use of the district EC offices will only create confusion and pandemonium during elections, a situation that stands the risk of undermining Ghana’s democracy.
He further argued that the use of district offices stand the risk of being disenfranchised because of the inaccessible and unsuitability of the locations which usually not close to registrants.
Using figures from Ghana’s 2010 national population census, lawyer Elikplim Agbemava who is representing three teenagers argued that the EC’s actions has the potential of depriving scores of Ghanaians of their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.
The right to vote according to lawyer Agbemava is subject to the possession of an ID card, a requirement that is dependent on the upcoming limited voter registration.
The fourth applicant, Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana, a civil society organization described as unbearable and a threat to Ghana’s democracy, what it says is the EC’s creation of conditions that make it impossible for new voters to access registration centers to acquire voter ID cards and participate in future Public Elections and Referendum.
“That with the adamant posture of the Respondent, it is bent on conducting the upcoming new voter registration at its 250 district offices unless compelled by this Honourable court to commit more of its approved funds and conduct the registration exercise at the more accessible and convenient polling stations,” the group argued.
The applicants are therefore asking the High Court to compel the EC to conduct the limited voters’ registration exercise at polling centers to ensure that majority of new voters are not disenfranchised considering the EC has been given money to increase the number of polling centers to 33,000.
Story: Sena Nombo/Radiogoldlive.com
