EC to penalised candidates with party bias

Any candidate contesting any of the district level elections that associates with a political party would be disqualified, the Electoral Commission (EC) said on Tuesday.

"Any aspiring unit committee or district assembly aspirant, who uses a political party paraphernalia commits an offence and upon conviction shall have his nomination cancelled by the Commission."

An official of the Commission told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the Local Government Act 1993 directs that a candidate seeking election to a District Assembly or to any lower local government unit shall present himself to the electorate as an individual and shall not use any symbol associated with a political party.

The Act also indicates that political parties are debarred from endorsing, sponsoring, offering a platform to or in any way campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower local government unit.

It also prohibits the mounting of platform by individuals for the purpose of promoting or canvassing for the election of a candidate without the authorisation of the Commission.

The EC official said any political party, which contravenes the Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five million cedis. Any person who contravenes the law is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one million cedis or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or both.

On the qualification of a candidate to contest the elections at the unit levels, the law requires that a candidate must be a Ghanaian and not less than 18 years; a registered voter and ordinarily resident in the particular unit for which he/she seeks for elections. The candidate must also have paid all taxes and rates or made satisfactory arrangements to the appropriate authority for the payment of the taxes and rates.

The EC official said the Commission was consulting the appropriate authorities on the problems encountered during the filling of nominations. He said reports from the districts indicated that some candidates filed their nominations without the two photographs required by law, which made the filing incomplete