The People’s National Convention (PNC) has stated that a new voters register should be compiled only if the process will be within the time frame of the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) calendar so as not to affect the 2020 general election.

It said an independent assessment of the financial cost by the PNC indicated that it would make economic sense and a prudent way to use the taxpayers’ money should the EC acquire a new Biometric Verification Device (BVD) rather than upgrade the current one.

“As argued above, it is prudent to get a new machine and for that, coupled with the creation of the new regions, we believe a compilation of a new voters register is in order,” it said in a statement signed by Mr Emmanuel Wilson Jnr, the Director of Communication of the PNC.

Disagreement

On the issue of the current voters register purportedly being bloated, it said the EC failed to convince the PNC as to the grounds for which such an argument was being made.

It said the best approach in dealing with a bloated register should not be to discard it and go in for a totally new register in the event that the EC’s assertion was right.

The statement said the PNC was not convinced by the EC’s reasons regarding its resort to the manual verification, hence the need to go for a new register.

“The PNC would want to state that since the EC recorded only 0.64 per cent of voters as having experienced such a challenge in the recently ended District-Level Elections (DLEs), we project that less than two per cent will experience such a challenge in the general election.

“In any case, these were not disenfranchised, as manual verification is legitimate. That notwithstanding, it will be better to avoid an unforeseen circumstance rather than wait for avoidable instances,” it stated.

It said the PNC believed in a peaceful and credible election and was committed to contributing in making this year’s election a success.

Communication

The statement admitted that some unfortunate developments within the party over the past week had brought the image of the PNC into ridicule.

“This is in line with a wrong impression that was created in the public space that the PNC as a party has a divided front when it comes to its position on the proposed new voters register.

“The party admits that some individual members have attempted to create a false impression that they are communicating the official position of the party on this matter.

However, we want to put on record that in as far as this subject matter is concerned, such persons acted in their private capacities and their positions did not represent that of the PNC, (demonstrations, press conferences etc.),” it stated.

It stated categorically that the official position of the PNC on the matter had never been communicated, hence the party’s official position through this statement.