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All is set for this year’s voters’ registration exercise to be conducted across the country from May 7 to May 27, 2024.
The exercise, slated for all 268 offices of the Electoral Commission (EC), including Santrofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, Likpe, (SALL) in the Guan Constituency in the Oti Region, ranks high among some pertinent issues to be discussed when the EC engages the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in a crunch meeting in Accra today.
The voters’ registration will be followed by another nationwide exercise to replace missing voter ID cards from May 30, 2024.
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.
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.
FLASHBACK: Voters’ registration exercise
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.
