Independent candidates group attend IPAC meeting
The Independent Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates Association of Ghana (ICAG), a group made up of individuals aiming to contest various positions in the 2020 Election, had the opportunity to participate in last Wednesday’s Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra.
This is the first time the group has been invited by the Electoral Commission (EC) to partake in the discussion of electoral matters at the IPAC meeting.
Represented by its leader, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY), who contested the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, the association took part in the IPAC discussions which lasted for about three hours.
Group concern
Before the meeting, Mr Yeboah commended the leadership of the EC for inviting the association to take part in the IPAC meeting.
He said the decision of the EC to include independent candidates in the meeting was a great move which would further create the platform for deeper engagement on electoral matters.
Mr Yeboah said the association would take advantage of the IPAC meeting to raise certain concerns regarding some of the previous decisions made by the EC during elections.
He mentioned the decision of the EC to allow political parties to ballot and only offer the last positions to the independent candidates as one of the major concerns which the association intended to engage the EC on.
IPAC discussion
At the meeting, which had in attendance the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensah, political parties were briefed on the preparation made towards the organisation of limited registration.
The EC was said to have proposed the organisation of the limited registration to be conducted at the district level and online but some of the political parties rather preferred it to be decentralised and done at the polling stations.
There was also a discussion on the issues of the political party offices which the EC was said to have announced to the parties that the report had been completed and would be made available to them.