NDC yet to provide evidence of discrepancies – Electoral Commission

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is yet to provide evidence of alleged discrepancies in the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) to the Electoral Commission (EC) since the 6^th September meeting that was called by the NDC. The NDC has since embarked on a demonstration on 17^th September, demanding a forensic audit of the Voters Register by independent external auditors. The EC on its part, has in its response to the NDC on Thursday, 26^th September, informed the NDC and the General Public that,

“…the Commission is of the view that the legal and administrative processes laid down to clean the PVR have not been fully exhausted to justify the calls for a Forensic Audit. We entreat the public to trust us to carry out our mandate.”

In the letter responding to the NDC’s petition, the EC raised concerns that the NDC has refused to provide evidence of the various discrepancies they claim to have discovered in the PVR. The EC said in its letter, among others, that:

“To allay your fears then and to reassure you of the credibility of the Voters Register, we requested that you present us with your data on the discrepancies you had detected. The sole purpose was to demonstrate to you that your issues with the Register had been resolved. Unfortunately, we have not received the data. As you will recall, there was the agreement that you would provide us with the data to allow us to investigate and report back within a week. We believe that had you followed through with this process, you would today, attest to the credibility and integrity of the Register and abandon your call for a forensic audit. We however assure you that all the discrepancies identified during and after the Exhibition have been corrected.”

On one of the specific allegations of the NDC, the EC said in its response that,

“The NDC is yet to provide to the Commission evidence of the “15,000 instances of unidentifiable voter transfer paths” that the party say they have identified in the PVR. However, all data, from registration to transfers and amendments are not deleted from the Voter Management System. All voters registered in the VMS can be accounted for. There is a trail that explains each voter’s movement. Even in instances where voter data becomes corrupt, there still exists evidence (paper or electronic) of a registration having taken place. This allows the Commission to identify the voters and invite them for inclusion should it come out that they are not in the Provisional Voters Register.”