12 Parties Submit Proposals On Register

Twelve out of the 24 registered political parties in the country have submitted their proposals to the Electoral Commission (EC) on whether there should be the compilation of a new voters� register for next year�s general elections. The EC directed the parties to submit their proposals, backed by evidence, after the New Patriotic Party (PPP) claimed that the register was bloated and had the names of 76,000 Togolese names in it. At the deadline yesterday, the parties that submitted the proposals were, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), opposition NPP, National Democratic Party (NDC), Yes Peoples� Party (YES), Progressive Peoples� Party (PPP), Democratic Peoples� Party (DPP) and the Great Consolidated Peoples� Party (GCPP). Others are the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), United Popular Party (UPP), Independent Peoples� Party (IPP), United Peoples� Party (UPP) and Egle Party. Missing from the list were the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the People�s National Convention (PNC), whose leaders had made several public comments on the matter earlier. The Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Christian Owusu Parry disclosed this in an interview to the Ghanaian Times yesterday. According to him the commission would make its pronouncement after scrutinising the various proposals and making wider consultations with all stakeholders. Asked if the EC�s doors were still opened for other parties to make submissions after yesterday�s deadline, Mr. Parry said his outfit has not yet taken a decision. Whilst the NPP had consistently called for a new electoral roll for the conduct of next year�s general elections, claiming it would guarantee free and credible polls, the NDC said it would be a waste of time and resources and instead, demanded that the current register should be cleansed.