2020 polls: EC’s online filling of nominations is innovative - NPP

The Director of Elections for the New Patriotic Party, Evans Nimako, says the NPP has welcomed the Electoral Commission's new policy that requires all presidential and parliamentary candidates in this year’s elections to fill their nominations online.

The EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, announced that the policy forms part of the “safety protocols for curbing the spread of the coronavirus” adding that, “the nomination forms will be made available on our website and so candidates no longer have to come to pick up their forms at our offices before filing”.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, Evans Nimako, noted that it was a step in the right direction considering the surge in Coronavirus cases. He has, therefore, called on all stakeholders to get on board to ensure a smooth process in the upcoming elections.

“Any arrangement that will ensure that we have an effective and organized order is welcomed… continuous interactions possess high risk (COVID-19). The EC does not want to give any prospective aspirant any trouble so they say go online to fill and submit your forms and all other discussions will follow. We think that it is an innovation that must be supported by all stakeholders," said Evans Nimako in an interview with GhanaWeb on July 29, 2020.

This will be the first in the country’s history that nominations will be done online as candidates in the past, have had to pick up nomination forms at the Electoral Commission's district, regional and national offices.

On the back of concerns raised by the public on the possibility of network challenges that might be a hinderance for aspirants, Mr. Nimako indicated that, “I can understand that in some circumstances the data will have a lot of traffic but I doubt that under this circumstance, any aspirant will be prevented from filing their nomination. It is important that we put in place mechanisms to check that no aspirant suffer based on the inability of the data system to work well".

The Director of Elections for the NPP also urged all Ghanaians to partake in the ongoing voters registration exercise to be able to vote come December 2020.