‘Establish West Africa Electoral Commission’
Participants in a national stakeholder workshop on electoral reforms have called for the establishment of a West Africa Electoral Commission (WAEC) as an over-arching authority on elections in the sub-region from registration to the declaration of results.
In their view, such a body could help reduce the cost of biometric registration and remove from electoral registers, voters who register in more than one country.
As part of its commitment to deepen democracy in Ghana, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), under the auspices of the Ghana Political Parties’ Programme (GPPP), organised the national stakeholder workshop to discuss Ghana’s electoral system with a view to proposing reforms in the wake of the challenges that emerged after the 2012 general election.
The participants comprised representatives of the IEA-GPPP, namely, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP).
The leadership of non-parliamentary political parties, including the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), United Front Party (UFP) and Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY), the independent candidate who contested the 2012 presidential election, were present.
Acceptable elections
The national stakeholder workshop, which was also aimed at validating the various proposals for electoral reforms by the political parties, was on the theme: Towards Transparent and Acceptable Elections: A Review of Ghana’s Electoral System.
It also brought together other important stakeholders of Ghana’s electoral process, including security agencies, the clergy, media, academia, traditional authorities, representatives of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Electoral Commission and youth and women’s groups.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), Christian Council, members of the diplomatic corps, students, ministers of state, Members of Parliament and other identifiable civil society organisations also participated in the workshop.
A press statement signed by the Executive Director of IEA, Mrs Jean Mensa, stated that the review and discussions about Ghana’s electoral system were focused on areas such as the role and powers of the Electoral Commission in the conduct of elections, biometric voter registration, voting and documents of the polls, e-voting, election security and election petitions.
Resolutions
According to the statement, participants affirmed their commitment towards electoral reforms to make the electoral system conform to best practices globally.The participants, the statement said, affirmed and validated earlier recommendations in the communiqués adopted at the workshops in Akosombo and Koforidua by the political parties that the Electoral Commission must work with defined programmes and published timelines to ensure certainty in the implementation of the programmes.