Don’t review constituencies in election year — Participants
Participants at a two-day workshop to review electoral reforms have suggested that no reviews of constituencies must be done in an election year.
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The participants also stressed the need for a distinction between the creation of districts and constituencies.
Rather, they argued that there must be a fixed number of constituencies such that the periodic reviews would not amount to increases.
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), under the auspices of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP), organised the non-partisan post-election workshop on electoral reforms in the country at Akosombo during the weekend.
The workshop, which was on the theme: ‘‘Towards Transparent and Acceptable Elections in Ghana: A Review of Ghana’s Electoral System’’, had become necessary following the outcome of the historic 2012 election petition trial.
The participants comprised representatives of the Ghana Political Parties Programme, namely the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
The leadership of non-parliamentary political parties including the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the United Front Party (UFP) also attended.
According to a press statement issued and signed by Mrs Jean Mensah, Executive Director of IEA, the participants stressed the need for the Electoral Commission (EC) to work with a timetable for all its activities.
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On recruitment and training of electoral staff, participants recommended a minimum educational qualification and the training to be carried out by civil society groups for two years before general elections.
On the question of biometric verification of fingerprints, one school of thought argued that it must be maintained and the devices made more effective and efficient.
Another group suggested that there ought to be a window of opportunity for some people to vote without the fingerprint verification.
Participants also suggested some details to be included on the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results Sheet (Pink Sheet).
These, according to the statement, included information on special voters; information on those to be identified by face only; and information on the serial number of the biometric verification device.
The participants also suggested that constituency collation forms must be modified to include information on polling station names and codes, and must be signed by polling agents and the returning officers with copies given to the agents and one posted at the collation centre.
On situations of the likelihood of postponement of polls, participants suggested that regulations should be made to deal with such exigencies such that the integrity of the process would not be compromised.
Participants could not discuss reforms in areas such as election security, election petition and e-voting due to time constraints.
Participants agreed that there should be a follow-up workshop to allow them time to consult their party echelons on the proposals for reforms and to make more concrete suggestions for reforms.
Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana