2020 presidential candidates to download nomination forms – Jean Mensa directs

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Jean Mensa, says presidential candidates who wish to contest the 2020 elections will download their nomination forms online instead of following the previous practice of picking them up from the EC’s head office once nominations are open.

This, she said, is in line with COVID-19 measures the Commission is putting in place to curb the spread of the virus.

The chair made this announcement when she addressed the press at the EC’s “Let the Citizens Know” press conference today, 27 July 2020.

“The Commission will for the first time make nomination forms available on its website. As such, candidates no longer have to come to the Commission to pick up their nomination forms before filling. They can simply visit our website and download the various forms.

“This will also help to lighten the burden that candidates have to go through to file. The guidelines for nominations will also be made available on our website. The Commission believes that this initiative will simplify the arduous filing process,” the EC chairperson said.

In her address, Jean Mensa gave a breakdown of the total number of Ghanaians who had registered as at Friday 24 July 2020.

82.5% of the target

“As at Friday 24 July, the total number of registered voters stood at 11,629,480 persons registered. At the end of the fourth phase the Greater Accra Region had the highest number of registrants, totalling 2,615,925. The Ashanti Region came second with a total of 2,089,923 people and the Eastern Region came third with a total of 1,084,734 people.

“After this we had the Central Region with 1,074,519 people, the Western Region with 734,545 people, the Northern Region with 687,123 people, the Volta Region with 660,508 people, the Bono Region with 460,226, the Upper East Region with 409,825, the Bono East Region with 391,777, the Western North Region had 300,015 people, the Upper West Region 299,480, the Oti Region with 226,109, the Ahafo Region with 212,670 people, the Savannah Region with 195,126 people, and finally the North-East Region with 186,975 people,” Mensa announced.

After rounding up the regional breakdown of registrations as at 24 July the EC chair announced the provisional figures for number of registered voters as at Sunday 26 July 2020.

“As at yesterday, Sunday 26 July, a total number of 12,371,651 persons had been successfully registered. This represents 82.5% of our expected target of 15 million,” the EC chair noted.

The 2020 voters’ registration exercise started on 30 June and is expected to end on 6 August. The EC has projected that it will register roughly 15 million eligible Ghanaians on the voters’ roll by the end of the exercise.

Wilberforce Asare / Asaase Radio

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