EC Pardons All Defaulting Parties

The Electoral Commission says it would no longer expel the five political parties who did not satisfy the commission?s eligibility criteria after a nationwide inspection tour.

The Commission announced earlier this month that a number of political parties including the National Reform Party, Dan Lartey?s Great Consolidate Poular Party and the United Ghana Movement headed by Dr Charles Wrecko Brobbey will have their mandate to contest the December elections withdrawn because they did not satisfy certain critical requirements for participation in the polls.


The Commission?s decision was taken after working tour of all ten regions detected that most of the parties had no functional offices in most of the constituencies as required by law.


But Dr Kojo Afari Gyan, the Electoral Commissioner says they would now adopt a softer stance against the defaulting parties. Instead the parties would be required to streamline their operations within a month.


He said after meeting stakeholders involved, the commission has decided to give the parties a bit more time to put their house in order before the start of the voter registration exercise on March 12.

Many of the parties said the electoral commission?s stance was unfair and a major blow to the process. Dan Lartye of the GCPP even suggested that the move was part of attempts by the commission to put down small parties.


Dr Gyan admitted that excluding the parties would have hampered the process but he insist that the commission is only playing by the rules.


?Admittedly, the exclusion of these five parties from the elections would be a sour point in the entire election process but nevertheless we at the commission would always make sure that parties abide by a set criteria?, Dr Gyan said.