The Electoral Commission (EC) Sunday ended the two-day mop up exercise as a follow-up to the official 37-day voters’ registration to ensure a credible register for the presidential and parliamentary elections.
The exercise started on June 30 and officially ended on August 6, in 33,367 polling stations, which was done in six phases with each phase assigned six days for eligible applicants to register.
This was followed by the two-day mop up exercise on Saturday, August 8 to Sunday, August 9, 2020 at the various district offices of the EC across the country to enable eligible applicants who were unable to register in the mass registration exercise to do so.
The first and second phases of the exercise were characterised by overcrowding, necessitating the Commission to introduce a queue management system and mobile registration to address the situation.
The Commission projected to register a total of 15 million citizens but a little over 16.6 million were registered on the last day of the 37-day exercise.
A visit by the Ghana News Agency on Sunday to some of the EC district offices saw some people trooping in to take advantage of the mop up to register.
At the Klotey Korle office, Ms Afuah Amoah, the Registration Officer, said as at midday the office had registered 12 applicants.
She said the exercise had been smooth with majority of applicants going by the COVID-19 safety protocols – washing of hands with soap under running water, checking of temperature and observing the two-metre distance.
The situation at the Kaneshie District Office was not different as the GNA observed about 20 applicants seated awaiting their turn to register.
Similarly, the Commission’s office at the Ablekuma North also had a significant number of applicants in the queue.
Mr Robert Tetteh, an applicant, told the GNA that he was initially afraid to go and register due to the COVID-19, “but …it was fast and it took five minutes to complete the process. I think this is an improvement over the previous registration exercise. I commend the EC officials for this and hope the Election day will be good and peaceful.”
Dr Bossman Eric Asare, the Deputy Chairman in Charge of Corporate Service at the EC, said its preliminary assessment of the two-day mop-up exercise showed that “everything has worked according to plan.”
“We are yet to receive all the reports and do a full assessment but now we can say that it has been largely successful. Looking at the performance of temporary and permanent staff, materials and kits have been great.”
He said the Commission could not have successfully executed its mandate without the support and participation of the public.
He called for continuous support for the Commission during the exhibition and other processes for a credible, fair, transparent and peaceful elections in December.
Source: GNA
