The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for a multi-stakeholder and interparty review of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) IT system ahead of the December 7, 2024 elections.
The opposition raised concerns over vulnerabilities within the EC’s system, which it believes could compromise the integrity of the upcoming polls if not urgently addressed.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 1, the NDC’s Functional Executive Committee (FEC) emphasized the need for swift action following admissions by the EC that its IT infrastructure had experienced anomalies during the voter registration process.
“The vulnerabilities in the IT system of the Electoral Commission can be exploited by criminals to compromise the integrity of the December 7, 2024 elections if not addressed,” the party warned in the statement.
The call follows the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting convened by the EC to address concerns over the provisional voters’ register.
The NDC raised several issues the EC admitted to during the meeting, including:
– Illegal transfer of voters due to the lack of liveliness test technology, which occurred in constituencies like Pusiga.
– Erroneous addition of previous transfers to the 2024 transfer list.
– Presence of corrupted files in the 2024 Provisional Voters’ Register, which the EC claims have been rectified.
– Deleted voters whom the EC plans to place on a Missing Voters register.
– A vulnerable IT system at the EC susceptible to manipulation from internal and external actors with access to login credentials.
The NDC welcomed the EC’s decision to re-exhibit the updated provisional voters’ register but insisted that the process should be conducted both online and offline to ensure transparency and accessibility for all voters.
“We recommend that the re-exhibition exercise should be conducted online and offline at the exhibition centres,” the statement added.
The party also expressed cautious optimism over the EC’s promise to release the corrected provisional voters’ register to political parties for scrutiny within a week.
However, it emphasized that without a thorough review of the IT system, the risk of potential manipulation would remain a critical threat to the credibility of the electoral process.
“The NDC demands a multi-stakeholder and interparty examination of the IT system of the Electoral Commission to address the vulnerabilities that the EC itself has admitted to,” the statement stressed.