More constituencies for 2000 elections

Accra (Greater Accra), 23 February 2000 - Mr. David Kanga, Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission in charge of Operations, has announced plans by the Commission to increase the number of constituencies in the country.

He said that based on the outcome of the forthcoming national population and housing census, a decision would be taken to "increase the constituencies from the present 200 seats to 220 or 300 seats".

Mr Kanga was speaking at a seminar on election reporting organised by the Commonwealth Press Union and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the sitting arrangement in Parliament could be changed to accommodate the proposed increase in the number of parliamentary seats.

Mr Kanga said apart from population distribution, other factors such as landmarks and accessibility would be taken into consideration.

Mr Kanga expressed concern about delays in dealing with election related cases at the courts and said the setting up of Election Tribunals should be considered.

Thought is being given to the issue of direct allocation of funds to the Commission adding that Parliament could enact a law to enable it to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund, he said.

Mr. Kanga stressed the important role of the media in elections and asked journalists to be accurate and factual to reduce electoral conflicts.