Ghana's opposition stages protests over alleged voter roll irregularities

ACCRA, Ghana

Ghana’s biggest opposition party held nationwide protests in regional capitals across the country Tuesday demanding an audit of the voter roll for the general election set for December.

Millions of supporters of the National Democratic Congress party, the country’s main opposition party, participated in the protests, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, an NDC member of parliament, said in a live broadcast on TV3. Those numbers could not be independently verified but protests were held in all 16 regional capitals of Ghana, including the capital Accra.

“We are not asking for a big favor from the electoral commission, we are demanding our right to free and fair elections," Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, the chairman of the NDC told party members before the protest march in Accra.

The NDC claims that nearly 300,000 anomalies have been discovered, including illegal transfers of voters’ names and the removal of names from the register without their knowledge.

"This independent audit, we say that let the UNDP facilitate it. Is it too difficult? It is difficult because the EC has something to hide," said Omane Boamah, the NDC director of elections.

Ghana has held peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections for nearly two decades. The general election on Dec. 7 will be the ninth consecutive election since the country’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992.

But allegations of voter roll irregularities this year have created concerns about a possible democratic backslide.

The NDC alleges it detected thousands of unauthorized transfers and erasures of voter names on the voter roll for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

The electoral commission said the opposition party's call for a forensic audit was “misguided” during a press conference last week.

The NDC National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, rallied the crowd, stressing the need for urgent action and a thorough audit of the electoral process to prevent a democratic backslide.

"If you tend to be peace-loving and you are condoning wrongdoing, you are the one who is brooding conflict in this country. That is why we are ready to fight against the element that will disturb our democracy," said Nketia.

Presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana are held concurrently every four years. Current President Akufo-Addo is stepping down this year after his second and final four-year term.

Former President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC, who lost in the 2016 and 2020 elections will face off with Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party in this year’s election

The protest march in Accra ended with the presentation of a petition to the parliament and the electoral commission. The petition calls for a bipartisan probe into the conduct of the Electoral Commission, an independent forensic audit of the voters register, and the immediate publication of the audit's findings once conducted.