News: 11th March 2016 Ghana Elections Daily News Highlights

 [A service by @africanelection] Accra, 11th March, 2016: The pilot registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) is still making headline news and Citifmonline reporting on “Sample Size for Pilot Biometric Registration Too Small- PPP”. The Progressive People’s Party (PPP), says the Electoral Commission’s pilot biometric registration exercise is not representative enough of the political demographics of the country. The Commission has announced it will hold pilot biometric exercise in some selected polling stations (3,000 out of the 29,000) in the country on Saturday March 12, to test its new software.

“No Transparency In Upgraded Biometric Registration Kits (BVR Kits) – NPP Director Of Elections”. Another report by Citifmonline which states that the Director of Elections for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Martin Adjei Korsah, has raised concerns about the upgraded biometric registration kits which the Electoral Commission wants to use for pilot exercise on March 12, 2016 in all the ten regions. According to him, it is not clear to the political parties whether the upgraded machines means the EC has bought new one with high specs or the features of the old ones have been upgraded as he didn’t see anything of that sorts during the demonstration.

The EC again made the headline with Citifmonline’s with the story “EC To Withdraw Licenses Of ‘Dead’ political Parties”.The EC again made the headline with Citifmonline’s with the story “EC To Withdraw Licenses Of ‘Dead’ political Parties”. The Electoral Commission (EC) may soon withdraw the licenses of non-functioning political parties ahead of the November 7 general elections. There are currently about 24 registered political parties on the EC books, but only the CPP, the NDC, the PNC, and the NPP have consistently contested in the 4th Republican elections.

In other news about having free, fair and transparent elections classfmonline reports that Voter “Roll: Use Limited Registration To Clean Register – DI”. Pro-opposition think thank Danquah Institute is worried about the lack of action by the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement proposed electoral reforms and calls for the limited registration exercise to be used to sanitise the voters’ register.

The  Director of Elections for the Convention People’s Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh, has described Samia Nkrumah’s allegation that the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) sponsored Ivor Greenstreet to become the flagbearer of the CPP as “needless” and “unwarranted” and undermines the credibility of the party. This is captured by Classfmonline with the headline “Samia Displaying ‘Immaturity’- Bomfeh”

 Citifmfonline reports that the “IGP Warns Vigilante Groups Ahead Of November Polls”. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, has cautioned political parties against forming vigilante groups ahead of the November polls. According to him, the police will act professionally before, during and after the November general elections. He said the Police service will provide maximum security at all times of the elections.

Today being Friday, we conclude with an elections trivia:

Did you know that the first parliamentary elections held in the 4th Republic of Ghana was boycotted by all the 4 opposition parties? Find something super interesting and put it here. Enjoy your weekend

This daily Ghana elections news highlights is compiled by www.africanelections.org - a @penplusbytes project