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Politics of Tuesday October 20, 2020
Source: FM class
2020-10-20
Professor Ransford Gyampo is a political scientist
Professor Ransford Gyampo from the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana has advised the Electoral Commission to go beyond its narrow focus on elections and activate its other regulatory functions of ensuring that only political parties exist and operate in the body. political, and not in elections. machines.
Professor Gyampo’s advice comes after the electoral management body authorized 12 presidential hopefuls to participate in the upcoming December elections.
According to the speaker, although he agrees that multiparty democracy is expensive, the space it provides for electoral contests should only be given to the political parties that are intended, not to the electoral machines.
He described political groups that emerge only during elections and then fall asleep, only to be heard when there is another election, as electoral machines and not as political parties.
In a statement copied to ClassFMonline.com, Professor Gyampo opined that “authorization by the Electoral Commission of up to 12 candidates to be on our ballots will not only create confusion in the selection of voters during voting, but also a loss of space on ballot papers. “
The qualified candidates for this year’s presidential elections announced by the EC are: Alfred Walker, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Christian Kwabena Andrews, Bridgette Dzobegnuku, John Dramani Mahama, Akua Donkor and Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.
The rest are: Hassan Ayariga, Ivor Greenstreet, Henry Herbert Lartey, Kofi Akpaloo and David Apesera.
Read Professor Gyampo’s full statement below:
A multiparty democracy connotes the existence of more than two political parties, with a more or less equal political force, so that in any major electoral contest, it becomes difficult for a single party to obtain a clear majority of votes, without the support of others. politicians. parties.
This is the true definition of multi-party democracy. Until political parties in Ghana strive to achieve this, approval by the Election Commission of up to 12 candidates to be on our ballots will not only create confusion in the selection of voters during voting, but would also represent a waste of space. in voting. voting ballots.
Multi-party democracy is expensive, I agree. But the space it provides for the electoral contest should only be granted to the political parties that they deserve, not to the electoral machines.
If only one party can win an election without the support of any other political party, then we are not a true multi-party democracy. The space for electoral contestation in a true multi-party democracy can only be given to political parties that also function in the inter-electoral period, as agents of aggregation of interests, agents of interest articulation, agents of political socialization, agents of leadership preparation. , agents shaping Ghana’s political destinies and socio-economic well-being, as well as agents offering constructive criticism that keep regimes on their toes to do the right thing.
A political group that arises only during elections and falls asleep afterwards, only to be heard when there is another election, is not a political party, but an electoral machine.
Not until political parties accept this stark truth and become strategic in what they yearn for; and until the Election Commission strictly enforces our electoral laws as they apply to political parties in the period between elections, or between election seasons, Ghana can remain duopolistic for a long time, particularly when party realignment is rare in democracies in transition like Ghana.
It is just a true multi-party democracy that can have up to 12 candidates on one ballot in an electoral contest. As we develop our democracy, our Electoral Commission must go beyond its narrow focus on elections and activate its other regulatory functions of ensuring that only Political Parties exist and operate in the body politic, and not in electoral machines.
Yaw gyampo
A31, Prabiw
PAV Ansah Street
Saltpond
Y
Suro Nipa House
Kasease
Larteh-Akuapim
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