EC, IPAC meeting necessary to build trust

Since 1992, strenuous efforts have been made by the Electoral Commission (EC) and all stakeholders to improve the electoral system and engender trust in it.

From the time of the use of opaque ballot boxes, Ghana’s electoral system has seen significant changes, including the use of transparent ballot boxes and a biometric voters roll. 

Notwithstanding these forms of improvement, our elections are still fraught with problems. There is the problem of double registration, while efforts at eliminating ghost names from the old register are still being made. 

Even though the EC is constitutionally mandated to be independent, it is imperative that it moves along, each step of the way, with stakeholders. This requires broadbased consensus to arrive at a transparent and credible electoral system.

It is in line with this that the Daily Graphic welcomes the EC’s assurance that it will convene an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting before commencing the limited voters registration exercise scheduled for June 20-29, 2014.

The general secretaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) have, in a proposal sent to the EC, requested an emergency meeting to outline modalities for the exercise.

The PNC and the Danquah Institute (DI) have also asked the EC to suspend its planned registration until certain key concerns have been addressed.

Though the EC is yet to set the date for the IPAC meeting, it is the wish of the Daily Graphic that it does the necessary arrangements for the meeting to come off successfully to satisfy all stakeholders and calm down nerves.

About two years away from the 2016 general election, we cannot go into that contest with mistrust, suspicion and lack of consensus.

At least the Supreme Court hearing of the 2012 election petition demonstrated that all is not well with Ghana’s electoral system, with problems of multiple registration contained in the biometric voters register being highlighted.

It is gratifying to note that the EC attaches a lot of respect to the opinions of stakeholders, particularly as the commission has officially received proposals to that effect.

We hope the meeting to address all the issues and hopefully reach a consensus among the parties before the exercise begins would be successful

The IPAC meeting must be seen as the first necessary step in ensuring free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections in 2016. 

This is because disagreements over electoral rolls have always set the atmosphere for parties to reject election outcomes and so we should do well to avoid traversing that path in 2016.