The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has formally presented a petition to Parliament in Accra.The party’s General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey summarised the NDC’s key demands after the ‘Enough Is Enough’ protest on Tuesday.
In his presentation, Mr Kwetey emphasised that the NDC’s request for a forensic audit of the voter register is reasonable.He argued that if there is nothing to hide, there should be no issue with granting the audit.
He urged Parliament to use its influence to ensure these demands are met in order to establish a credible voter register for the upcoming 2024 elections.He outlined their demands, including a bi-partisan probe into the conduct of the Electoral Commission (EC), leading to a forensic audit of the voters’ register, immediate publication of the forensic findings.
The rest are re-exhibition of the voter register, a 5-day re-exhibition period following the audit, correction of unauthorized vote transfers, adoption of a definitive timetable for electoral activities, an emergency meeting of stakeholders, including ECOWAS and the African Union (AU), among others, implementation of accountability and integrity measures to prevent future manipulation of the voter register.
The petition was accepted by the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, signaling the first step towards addressing the NDC’s concerns.In response, he said, “This is one of the several ways to enrich our democracy.”
He encouraged stakeholders to avail themselves, adding that” if there are genuine concerns, we can raise them at the discussion table.”The NDC demonstration was in response to the Electoral Commission’s (EC) refusal to permit a forensic audit of the voter’s register.The protest is currently taking place at the approved routes across all 16 regions of Ghana.