low turnout and misunderstandings characterize first day of Limited Voter Registration

A ten-day limited voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has begun on a predictably low turn-out note.

The EC hopes to register about 1.2 million people as it opened the register, Thursday, April 27 at more than 3,000 polling centers across the country.

In the Volta region, scores of first-time voters at the Ketu South and Anlo constituencies were unable to register due to a heavy rainfall which disrupted the exercise.

The exercise was halted at the various polling centres due to the heavy downpour in most parts of the region.

And some prospective voters were turned back as they did not have the either requisite identification or guarantors.

At the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti region, many young men and women are unable to complete the process because they do not have guarantors.

About 300 registrations are expected to be done in the 594 polling centres in the region.

Some participants showed up at the polling stations with National Health Insurance Cards, which is unacceptable. They had to be turned back home to get guarantors.

Although a voter's ID card is mainly for electoral identification purpose, some of the newly eligible voters confessed there are non-electoral considerations in turning up for the exercise.

At the God's Way polling centre in the Eastern region, the exercise was disrupted after a scuffle erupted between some National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters.

NDC supporters prevented some people from registering, claiming they were minors who were being forced by some NPP members to register.

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