The Electoral Commission (EC) has scheduled this year’s voters’ registration exercise to take place nationwide from May 7 to May 27, 2024. The exercise will be conducted in all 268 EC offices, including those in Santrofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe (SALL) in the Guan Constituency of the Oti Region.
This issue of voter registration is one of the main topics that will be discussed when the EC meets with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in Accra today. The voters’ registration will be followed by another nationwide exercise to replace missing voter ID cards from May 30, 2024.
Extra registration centres
A highly placed source at the EC told the Daily Graphic that apart from the EC’s district offices, 775 registration centres will be opened in distant and riverine areas to be handled by registration mobile teams. In addition, there will be registration centres in 25 public universities in the country. However, no registration centres will be opened in senior high schools (SHS). The exercise will be preceded by public education to create awareness among the citizenry.
Per the schedule made available to the Daily Graphic, the EC intends to submit the provisional voters’ register to the political parties between July 9 and July 18, 2024, followed by an exhibition of the voters’ register between July 15 and July 24, 2024. The final voters’ register is expected to be submitted to the political parties between August 30 and September 5, 2024.
Ejisu by-election
In a related development, the EC will conduct a by-election in the Ejisu Constituency on April 30, 2024, to find a replacement for Dr John Ampontuah Kumah, who died on March 7, 2024.
This is in conformity with Article 112 (5) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides that a by-election shall be held within 60 days after a vacancy occurs in Parliament. Article 112(6) of the 1992 Constitution also states that a by-election should not be held three months before a general election. The EC’s calendar of activities for the 2024 general election indicates that it will receive nominations of candidates for this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections from September 9 to 13 to signal the final countdown towards the climax of the political season.
This will be followed by the balloting for positions on the presidential ballot paper on September 23, 2024, and the parliamentary balloting on September 24, 2024. All things being equal, the EC plans to declare the results of the 2024 presidential polls within three days of the voting exercise.
By: Albert K. Salia
