Blame EC for parties’ non-compliance - Arhin

The Electoral Commission (EC) and the political parties in the country should take the flak for the failure of most parties to comply with the requirement for setting up offices across the country, the Programmes Director of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), Albert Arhin, has said.

Ghana’s Political Parties’ Law stipulates that parties should establish functional offices in at least two-thirds of the country’s 216 metropolises, municipalities, and districts. But many of the country’s 26 parties have fallen short of the requirement, and following a warning by the Commission that such parties will be disqualified from participating in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections, a number of parties are threatening court action against the EC.

But Mr Arhin, speaking on Ghana Yensom, Accra100.5FM’s morning show, on Thursday May 19, said the two sides should share the blame for the status quo.

Mr Arhin said the EC had been complicit in the matter. He explained that instead of cracking the whip on the parties to do the right thing, it always found excuses for them.

He continued that most of the parties, picking up on the laxity of the EC, had also gone to sleep, instead of increasing their presence on the ground and had been caught unawares by the EC’s recent declaration that it will disqualify all parties that fail to meet the requirement.

“So, the commission and the parties must equally share the blame. If they want the situation amended, perhaps, the commission could change the law for them or whatever; for that it may be the lawyers who will handle that,” he added.