Election 2020: NPP, APC others to file nominations on October 6

As the race for the presidency begins to heat up with almost two months to the general election, leaders and flagbearers of political parties are mandated to file and present their nominations forms to the Electoral Commission.

The filing of nomination forms part of an electoral process that qualifies candidates seeking to contest in the general elections.

The electoral body, the Electoral Commission in September this year, set a five-day period for Presidential, Parliamentary, and Independent candidates to file their nomination forms from October 5-9, 2020

The Commission declared an amount of GH¢100,000 set aside as filing fee for Presidential candidates and GH¢10,000 for that of Parliamentary candidates to be paid through a bankers draft.

Meanwhile, the Acting Head of Public Affairs at the Electoral Commission, Sylvia Annoh has disclosed that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) will file its nomination on Tuesday October 6, 2020, at 11:00am.

Hassan Ayariga, flagbearer of the All People Congress (APC) will file the nomimation of his party at 3:00pm while Independent Candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah of JOY will file his at 9:00am on the same day, Tuesday October 6.

According to the EC, the Ghana Freedom Party led by Akua Donkor will also file its nomination tomorrow, October 6, 2020, at 10:00am.

This year's nominations, however, will be different from that of the previous years, according to the Electoral Commission.

The Commission in line with the COVID-19 pandemic and its safety protocols has introduced a website portal for the filing of nominations for the general elections.

"The forms will be accessed on the commission's website; www.ec.gov.ghana/politicalparties and they will be available to all political parties from 6:00pm today [Monday, September 14, 2020]," the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa earlier said.

She explained that to ensure the security and integrity of the nomination process, each political party will be provided with a unique password to enable them access the password-protected nomination forms.

"This will be made available via their political party name folder on the portal and the password will be provided to the General Secretaries of the political parties," Jean Mensa said.

The Commission added that Independent candidates will also be issued with unique passwords.