A Coalition of over 13 Political Parties has thrown their massive support the Electoral Commission (EC) over the idea to compile a new voters’ register.
This comes after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some smaller parties held a press conference to kick the decision of the EC on the need for new voters register compilation.
According to the parties, the EC is the constitutional body that is ceased with the appropriate jurisdiction to administer all public elections in the country, and one of its key functions in this regard has to do with the compilation of the voter’s register. Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 2 of the Electoral Commission Act (ACT 451) states in part that the electoral commission shall compile the register of voters and revise it at such a period as may be determined by law.
They added that the constitution in Article 51 also mandates the EC to make regulations for the effective performance of its functions particularly for the registration of voters and for the conduct of public elections. They also recognized that by reason of Article 46, the Electoral Commission is an independent body that is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority in the constitution.
In view of this explicit provisions, these political parties have come to understand that when elections do not go well in the country, it is the EC that will be faulted because it is the only constitutional body responsible for the conduct of elections. They believe that it is, therefore, a legal obligation on all stakeholders including political parties and civil society organizations to support the EC to discharge its constitutional mandate and not seek to direct the EC on how to perform its function.
Leader of this coalition, Kofi Akpaloo, the Founder and Leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana said political parties are free to make suggestions and recommendations to the Commission for its consideration and possible adoption.
He said this is because political parties are undoubtedly the number one stakeholders in the conduct of elections and that is why the nation has a vehicle known as the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) which serves as an opportune platform for political parties and the EC to meet and deliberate on matters of concern in relation to the core functions of the EC.
Kofi Akpaloo said even though IPAC has only a consultative and advisory role, it has been of great importance in building trust among political parties and in generating proposals for electoral reforms to enhance the nation’s electoral system. And indeed, almost all the major reforms that we have witnessed in this country has been spearheaded by the political parties through IPAC. It is therefore important for the Electoral Commission (EC) to maintain a close relationship with IPAC and strengthen its engagement with the political parties on issues relating to electoral processes.
EC’s decision to compile a new voter register ahead of election 2020
The EC with its constitutional mandate served notice that it intends to procure a new Biometric Voter Management Solution ahead of 2020 general election which will, therefore, lead to the compilation of a new voter register, and has proceeded to justify the need to do so. In the arrival of this decision, the Commission consulted all the relevant stakeholders particularly the political parties through IPAC, where extensive deliberation has been held between the EC and political parties on the subject.
The EC in justifying the need to compile a new register informed the general public that its decision is based on the advice of its IT team and external consultants to the effect that, it would be prudent to acquire a new system rather than refurbish the current system which had become obsolete and thus unfit for purpose.
Upon this statement from the EC, the over 9 political parties have thrown their massive support to EC.
Political parties who threw their support for the EC’s compilation of new voter’s register include:
NDP
LPG
NPP
DPP
GLP
NVP
GCPP
PNC
RDP ……… and many more
