[ad_1]
A religious organization, the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa (ACAA), proposes a threshold to determine who qualifies to be on the presidential ballot, in addition to the ability to pay the ¢ 100,000 GH.
“I think that, with what we have observed, something must be done with a party that cannot reach a certain threshold for two or three consecutive elections.
“From now on, when you pick up the ballot, it is very long and at the end of the day, you see the performance, some of them could not even get 500 votes across the country,” the Executive Director of the ACAA. Said the Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Sunday.
Reverend Dr. Opuni-Frimpong shared preliminary findings from observer teams of 100 pastors deployed to eight regions to observe the general elections held on December 7, 2020.
Reaction
But the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the National People’s Convention (PNC) have rejected suggestions for any reduction in the number of political parties or presidential candidates, describing it as a “recipe for disaster” if the country is reduced to just two. political parties.
They insisted that the smaller political parties controlled both political parties, saying that if nothing at all, the state should bear the responsibility of paying party agents for all political parties at all polling stations.
recommendations
Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong questioned the justification for deploying national resources and energy in political parties that could not have any impact on the elections.
He said the poor performance of the smaller parties, not only on the voting sheet, but their visibility in polling stations should be cause for concern.
Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong said that while there was a need to give space to other political parties in the country to deepen the country’s democratic path, “those presidential candidates must come with a certain level of seriousness.”
He wonders how a presidential candidate from a serious political party can have a significant impact if he cannot afford to recruit officers to serve various polling stations.
Worrying development
The Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong said that in all polling stations where the ACAA deployed its observers, only agents from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were present to sign the pink sheet.
He described it as a worrying fact because there was a genuine reason why the Constitution mandated that all political parties have agents in all polling stations.
“Now, when we finish the elections, the problems are now between the PNP and the NDC and the observer groups. But we need the other parties to come out and tell us something, for example, during the count, what did they see?
“They were not there to sign the forms and then, the challenges we are having now, these smaller parties cannot be part of the conversation now because they were not in the polling stations because they did not sign,” he said.
The Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong said that the performance of the smaller parties required more deliberation going forward, as to “what do we do with political parties that cannot present party agents at polling stations?”
Political pluralism
NDP Secretary General Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, who described the nomenclature of “smaller parties” as out of place, said that democracy fought in an environment of pluralism.
He explained that in pluralism “we do not expect all political parties to have the same resources and status to participate.”
“Without the smallest political parties, there will be no democracy and that is what the country must understand. In fact, we will have what I call an autocratic duopoly, ”he said.
State funding
He asked for state funding for political parties through the payment of agents recruited by political parties to deepen democratic governance.
Supporting Alhaji Frimpong’s position on state funding of political parties, PNC presidential candidate Mr. David Apasera insisted that political parties were supporting the state to strengthen democratic principles.
He proposed that as part of its responsibilities, the recruitment of agents should be handled by the EC, questioning what the EC would have done if there were no agents at the voting stations.
“For me, I believe that the political system that we are embarking on, unless we agree that the state must enter at least one point to level the playing field for all parties by paying party agents, we are headed for disaster, “he said. said.
Source: graphiconline.com
| Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com does not accept any legal or other responsibility for the accuracy of the content. Please inform us of any inappropriate content and we will evaluate it with priority. |
featured video
