VOTER REGISTRATION: ELECTORAL COMMISSION ADMITS

UNCLAS ACCRA 001169
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/W

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM GH
SUBJECT: VOTER REGISTRATION: ELECTORAL COMMISSION ADMITS
PROBLEMS, BUT SAYS "NO CHAOS" ON ELECTION DAY


1. (U) SUMMARY. Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman
Afari-Gyan began a September 5 meeting of the Inter-party
Advisory Committee (IPAC) by admitting that there were
problems with the registration exercise, which saw 290% more
new registrants than a similar exercise two years ago. He
asserted that the political parties themselves are the source
of some of the problems. The EC will exhibit the register
from October 5 to 11, giving the parties the chance to
challenge the eligibility of registrants. The test now is
for the EC to successfully oversee a revision voter rolls
that appear to be inflated by multiple registrants and
under-age voters. It is not yet clear how the EC and the
parties will agree to cleanse the rolls, a process that will
be further complicated by being a month behind schedule.
Still, the Chairman said that there would "be no chaos" on
election day. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Electoral Commission Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afrai-Gyan
opened the meeting by giving the representatives data on the
recent voter registration exercise. Afari-Gyan noted that
1,835,417 new voters were added to the rolls during the
limited registration exercise (primarily intended for
registering individuals who reached the voting age since the
last limited exercise, in 2006). He added that the increase
was 290% greater than resulted from the 2006 exercise.
Afari-Gyan said that either Ghana's population was greater
than previously believed or "something went wrong with the
particular exercise."


3. (U) The Chairman added that the exhibition of the rolls
would take place from October 5 to 11, providing the parties
an opportunity to challenge voter qualifications. The
exhibition of rolls will be done at the local voting district
level. Afari-Gyan also said that nominations for presidential
and parliamentary candidates would be due on the 16 and 17th
of October. (NOTE: The EC had planned to exhibit the rolls
between mid-July and mid-August. END NOTE.). Finally,
Afari-Gyan announced that from September 12 to 16 photos
would be taken of registrants who could not, for technical
reasons be photographed during the exercise. The EC will
provide parties with CD-roms of the voter registry, but
without the photos of registrants. (NOTE: The lack of
photographs will reduce the usefulness of the materials in
checking the rolls. END NOTE).


4. (U) The political party representatives used the forum to
discuss the exercise. An official of the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) said it was suspicious that the more days the
exercise went on, the longer the lines became of would-be
registrants. Party representatives asked about how
registration materials were distributed, as some areas
experienced shortages. One party representative alleged that
voting registration was continuing now in parts of the
country, well past the close of the exercise, a charge
Afari-Gyan did not respond to. Afari-Gan did say that "the
commission is the victim of the actions of political
parties." He added that the EC didn't bus people to
registration centers, or shoot guns, or do other disruptive
activities, a clear reference to the political parties. He
said that "persons in position of authority" mis-behaved
during the process. He also said that he was not happy with
the police, who in some registration centers did not maintain
order. However, the Chairman did say that there would be "no
chaos come the election." Should under-age votes be found on
the voter registry, Afari-Gyan said that a collective
response would be needed involving EC and the political
parties.


5. (SBU) COMMENT. Dr. Afari-Gyan was frank in his assessment
of the recently completed voter registration exercise-- there
were problems, and the political parties are at least
partially culpable. However, the test now is for the EC to
manage the exhibition and cleansing of the roll, quite
possibly involving a significant number of under-aged or
double-registered voters. There was a hesitancy among the
IPAC members to discuss the "what next?" question, and how
the process would move ahead should-- as is likely-- there be
contention over the integrity of the voter rolls. The
pre-election process is also behind schedule by several
weeks, giving the EC and the parties less time to come to a
satisfactory solution. Finally, assessing the quality of the
voter rolls is all the more difficult in a country where,
especially in rural areas, many people do not have birth
certificates or other proof of exact age. END COMMENT.

TEITELBAUM