PRESS RELEASE

June 8, 2012 THE WINDOW OF HOPE OFFERED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO DISENFRANCHISED IN-SCHOOL FIRST TIME VOTERS TO REGISTER IS COMMENDABLE BUT CONCERNS ABOUT LAST MINUTE COMMUNICATION OF THE ELECTION 2012 AGENDA REMAINS UNRESOLVED The Youth Bridge Foundation is excited by the Electoral Commission’s decision to carry out a mop-up Biometric Voter Registration exercise in 187 centres in eight of the ten regions, the move deserves commendation. We are convinced that this will afford youth groups, particularly those who for various reasons would have otherwise been disenfranchised an avenue to add their names to the poll book of their electoral district. We bring to mind our persistent calls to the EC to develop mechanisms that cater for first-time voters who were unable to take advantage of the exercise due to the rules in various schools regarding their preparation and writing the WASSCE examinations. Even though this process could have been better catered for while the students were still on campus, we still consider the opening useful and believe it can accommodate our strategic group, the first-time voters, who will certainly go through this process with greater excitement. The Foundation considers the current window opportune enough for all willing youth who were unable to take advantage of the earlier process to do so. We shall be a foil for the dissemination efforts of the EC, encourage this group of youth to jump at this to enable them participate fully in the December elections and further caution the youth not to abuse this privilege with double registration as they risk being disqualified to vote. Parents should ensure that those wards, particularly those who were affected because of the WASSCE and other examinations are encouraged to take advantage of the two-day exercise, scheduled for June 9-10, 2012. Appreciative of EC’s commitment to addressing these genuine concerns of possible disenfranchisement which would come at extra cost, we encourage the media and civil society, to as usual use their platforms, do a great job of hyping the mop-up exercise to complement EC’s efforts, given that the notice from the Electoral Commission is rather short. The Foundation, however, remains concerned about the short notice and fragmented nature of communicating the election 2012 calendar to voters. We strongly believe that if affected voters knew well in advance when the mop-up exercise was scheduled and exactly which centreshave been included in the exercise, such voters would have no excuses not to be ready for the exercise. The struggle to get everyone informed about such an important activity within three days or less poses another mobilization challenge.   Finally we call on all well-meaning Ghanaians, media, civil society and development partners to continue to observe the process more closely to ensure that it becomes another further in the country’s democratic process. END Signed SETH OTENG Executive Director Youth Bridge Foundation P.O.Box CT 5543, Accra, Ghana Websites: www.youthbridgefoundation.net / www.aygconference.org Email: info@youthbridgefoundation.net