EC’s pilot registration a ‘joke’ – NPP

The Director of Elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Martin Adjei Mensah-Korsah, has described the Electoral Commission’s (EC) nationwide pilot registration process in selected polling stations as a “joke” since in their view, it will not address critical concerns they have raised ahead of the November polls. He argued that the pilot exercise will not be an accurate reflection of what is expected to happen during the actual elections.
The EC announced yesterday [Wednesday], that it will on Saturday, March 12, 2016, organise a pilot biometric registration exercise nationwide. A statement signed by the Commission’s Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations, Amadu Sulley, said the exercise would be held in selected polling stations in all the ten regions. Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Korsah noted that the pilot exercise will not be a true reflection of what will happen on election day. “Just as I have noted, I didn’t observe any thing new about those equipment. It was virtually the same process that we are used to having. If you have 29,000 polling stations, in this exercise, you have pointed out that it is being zoned down to 3,000 polling stations. How do you select 20 equipment for 20 polling stations and what true picture do you hope to get? Can this be a true reflection of what would happen in 26,000 polling stations?” “I’m tempted to feel its a joke. This cannot be representative of how you think this equipment should function if…” he added. He further stated that  the EC should be focusing on the auditing of the electoral register, saying “For me, if we don’t take steps to fix this register, all of these are nothing.”
 
Source – Citifm