Small political parties decry lack of political space
Seven small political parties in the country have decried the lack of political space for the participation of small political parties as a result of the ‘winner-takes-all’ system of government.
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According to them, the winner-takes-all system had only served to entrench the politics of exclusion.
They said the inherent structural weaknesses of Ghana’s multiparty system and the virtual emergence of a two-party system had prevented small political parties from effectively participating in the governance process.
These were contained in a communiqué issued by the parties at the end of a two-day agenda-setting meeting organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Accra last week. The meeting was on the theme, “Towards a more inclusive multi-party democracy in Ghana: The role of small political parties.”
The seven participating political parties were the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).
The rest were the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), the Independent People’s Party (IPP) and the United Front Party (UFP).
The essence of the meeting was to bring together the leadership of the parties to deliberate on their common challenges and how they could work collectively to enhance the possibilities of securing a well-functioning multi-party system in Ghana and avoid a violence situation that could affect the country’s stability during the upcoming elections later in the year.
Narrow definition of law
They also expressed concern over the operational definition of the constitutional provision and the Political Parties Law that required political parties to be organised in two-thirds of all districts in the country, saying, it had been too narrowly defined to mean physical offices.
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That provision, they said, did not take into account other forms like organising more effectively and the extensive use of social media and web-based virtual offices by corporate organisations, virtual universities and state institutions such as the Electoral Commission (EC) to make decisions and deliver public services.
Following the ultimatum by the EC that all political parties should comply with all the requirements of the law by the end of May 2016 or be sanctioned in accordance with the law, they urged the EC to engage in extensive consultations and dialogue with the parties and the general public on the best way forward such that the EC’s decisions after the May 31, 2016 deadline would strengthen the inclusive nature of Ghana’s multi-party democracy and not undermine it.
Use of ICT tools
It was their contention that increasingly, civil society organisations were also using similar modern technology and social media to organise and mobilise citizens to participate in decision making democratically.
“Section 15(1) of the Political Parties Law, 2000 as it stands, overlooks the importance of social media and web-based virtual offices to the cost-effective operations of political parties today. Therefore, if the EC were to enforce this particular law, then it would be undermining the operational effectiveness and democratic aspirations, particularly of the small under-resourced parties in the multi-party democratic system,” they maintained.
Monetisation of politics
They also identified the monetisation of politics and vote-buying that further crippled and weakened small political parties as another structural weakness.
Going forward, they called for reforms in the decentralised local government structures in a way that allowed political parties to contest elections at the district level too and the building of trust among small political parties as a way of leveraging their collective strengths.
Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh