The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) and the entire country to use 2015 to implement all the necessary electoral reforms ahead of the 2016 elections.
The Supreme Court of Ghana proposed some reforms following the election petition filed by the 2012 flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, together with his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the party’s Chairman at the time, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.
Many civil society organisations such as the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), IMANI-Ghana, and various political parties have also made a tall list of proposals which they believe, when implemented, will sanitise Ghana’s electoral system and remove suspicion, as well as promote transparency.
The IEA, for example, last year, in collaboration with the political parties with representation in Parliament, presented an 18-point proposal for electoral reforms to the EC.
The proposals included provisions that the EC work with defined programmes and published timelines to ensure certainty in the implementation of those programmes.
They also recommended that there must be a fixed number of constituencies to be reviewed periodically, in accordance with law and in line with population movement.
According to the IEA and the political parties, there should be no review of constituency boundaries in an election year.
A researcher at the IEA, Dr Ransford Gyampo, who briefed the press on the proposals in Accra at the time, said as part of the IEA’s commitment to deepen democracy in Ghana, the IEA/Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) had held two workshops to discuss the electoral system, with a view to proposing reforms in the wake of the problems that emerged after the 2012 general election.
He said the proposals were, therefore, drawn based on the discussions with the political parties, civil society organisations and the media.
The proposals also mentioned that there should be transparency in the recruitment process of temporary electoral officials with the minimum education qualification.
Source: Daily Graphic
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