The more people register to vote, the more Bawumia loses in 2024 elections – Basintale
Malik Basintale, a member of the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) communications team, believes that more voters who sign up for the electoral roll will cast ballots against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the next general elections.
He said that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s flagbearer, will lose more elections the more people sign up for the current limited voters registration exercise.
He explained this by pointing to the financial struggles the current government has placed Ghanaians through.
“If ten children of an unpaid contractor register, how many do you think [NPP] will get? Pensioner bondholders who have not been paid, if ten of their grandchildren register how many of them,” he said on the New Day show on TV3 Wednesday, May 8 while commenting on the ongoing limited voter registration.
Due to the difficulties encountered on Day One, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the running mate of former President John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the NDC, has pleaded with the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend the period for limited voters registration.
According to her, the EC should simply extend the deadline so that everyone who was unable to register owing to technical difficulties can now do so.
Despite the difficulties encountered on Day One of the limited voters registration operation on Tuesday, May 7, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang noted that the second day of the activity saw significant improvement.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, May 8, after visiting a few registration sites in the Accra constituencies of Ayawaso West Wuogon and Madina, she said, “Today is much better than yesterday, which was chaotic as we all know because many places hadn’t started on time as promised and the machines weren’t working.” I hope things keeps going the way it should.
“In terms of yesterday, I know they are machines and so on but one would not have expected that on such a large scale there would be consistent problems so definitely if there were places, as I hear, where not even a single person was registered or where very few people were registered because of challenges with the machines then definitely the EC must make up for that time.
“If it is an extra day it should be restored, if it is a couple of hours it should be extended to the following day.”
Ahead of the general elections on December 7, the Electoral Commission (EC) launched this year’s limited voter registration drive on Tuesday, May 7. On Monday, May 27, 2024, the 21-day exercise will come to a close. The national album is intended for those who have turned 18 years old since the last registration.
Additionally, the EC stated that the exercise will take place in hard-to-reach voting areas and at its district offices.
“Permanent centres will be set up at the District offices while mobile teams would be used to register eligible applicants in the difficult to access Electoral Areas. The list of registration centres will be provided to the Political Parties no later than twenty-one (21) days to the Registration exercise,” the EC noted.