Ghana’s main opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) had on Tuesday held nationwide protests against purported voter roll irregularities, calling for an independent forensic audit to purge the register of errors for free and fair elections.
Voters in the gold- and cocoa-producing nation will be exercising their franchise at the polls on December 7 to elect a successor to President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose constitution will expire in January after serving the lawfully mandated eight years in office.
This year’s election will pit ex-president John Dramani Mahama of the NDC party against the current Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
The NDC party leaders have said that the electoral commission illicitly transferred voters to various voting stations without prior knowledge, compromising the integrity of the register.
The protestors, clad in black and red had marched through principal streets in the capital city of Accra, blaring reggae and campaign songs from loudspeakers and calling on international bodies, Ghana’s peace council and religious and civil society groups to intervene in the matter.
Protest leaders had presented petitions to parliament and the electoral agency in Accra. The protests also took place across Ghana’s other 15 regions, according to reports from local media.
Meanwhile, the electoral commission has said that had identified errors and they had been duly corrected.
In August, it suspended a district director in Pusiga for “using his credentials to transfer voters without their knowledge.”
