Provisional Register May be used - Haruna Iddrisu Fears

Ghana may go to the December 7, presidential and parliamentary elections with a provisional voter register rather than a certified Register. The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrissu, raised the issue after the Electoral

Commission (EC) through government had laid a Constitutional Instrument(C.I) for the 2020 general elections. The new C.I was laid on Thursday, July 2, 2020, is to replace CI 94 which was use for the 2012

and the 2016 general elections. Unlike the CI 94, portions of the CI for the 2020 election has been captured that “persons who have their names in the provisional register” could vote in the upcoming elections.

This provision falls flat before the 1992 Constitution and CI 94 which recognised a certified voter register. Though the law is silent on the event of a register not certified, the Minority Leader believed the word

provision could have been avoided if the EC had listened to the Minority concerns that there was no need for a new voter register. He added that these lapses also reinforced the fact that the EC is not fully

prepared to compile a new voter register. The CI would be referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of parliament before the house takes a final decision on it to come into force before December 7, 2020