18M Ghanaians on biometric voter register for December 7 elections

A total of 18,640,811 Ghanaian voters are eligible for biometric verification when they take to the polls to elect a new president and parliamentarians on December 7.

This is according to the Ghana Election Commission (EC), which recently published details of the Certified Voters Register, copies of which were shared to political parties.

While 18,640,811 persons will be biometrically verified at the polling station, 133,348 others will be verified manually as their names are not on the biometric register, the EC said in a press release on November 11.

This means the total number of valid voters for the general elections stands at 18,774,159.

The release, signed by the EC deputy Chairman in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, gives a full breakdown of the different categories of voters expected to take part in the polls. These include special voters, voters without biometric data, voters on exceptions list, voters on proxy list, as well as transferred, and absent voters.

For those without biometric data, the EC explained that the data had been captured along the line but it “got corrupted for one reason or the other.” The agency affirmed that “they will be manually verified on election day.”

The EC published the Certified Voters Register following intense pressure from opposition political parties for that to happen. During a meeting early this month, representatives of the parties received soft copies of the register during a ceremony with the EC, Ghana News Agency reports.

The parties had argued that publishing the certified register is a major step toward ensuring transparency and integrity of the voting process.

Around 1.2 million registered for Somaliland polls

In an election related story, around 1.2 million citizens were expected to take part in Somaliland’s general elections which unfolded on November 13.

This year, the country registered and verified voters using an iris biometric system gotten with support from the Taiwanese government.

The election, which was largely peaceful, is being seen as an important step in asserting the independence of the state that unilaterally broke away from Somalia in 1999.

Incumbent President, Muse Bihi, who faced two challengers in the election, was among the first persons to get their voter ID checked and their iris biometrics verified on election day, according to Somalilanders. Vote counting has been underway.

Zimbabwe wants automatic voter registration for people who turn 18

In a move that aims to drive voter participation among the youthful population in Zimbabwe, the country is considering introducing a system where citizens who turn 18 will automatically be registered for elections.

Authorities are discussing this idea as the 2028 general elections in the country are in sight, per Tech Zim.

According to the proposal which is part of a Constitutional Amendment Bill being drafted by the government, the responsibility for voter registration would move from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to the Civil Registry Department as the data collected from national ID applicants will automatically be used for voter registration when individuals reach the legal voting age of 18. ID cards are issued from 16 in the country.

Government says the system which will bring many changes to Zimbabwe’s electoral framework will trigger an increase in voter participation and youth interest in the electoral process, enhance accuracy and data security, and bring down the cost associated with voter registration.

It also argues that with the new system, the electoral database will be easily sanitized as names of dead persons will be automatically removed using information from issued death certificates.

The government says it is open to feedback on the move from stakeholders across the board.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Ghana  |  Somaliland  |  voter registration  |  Zimbabwe