Electorate calls for dialogue to ensure violent-free Election 2020

Ghana’s voting population has called for a dialogue between the various political parties, Electoral Commission (EC) and all stakeholders to ensure free, fair, credible and violent-free Election 2020.

They recommended the EC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the political parties to undertake and promote clean electioneering before, during and after the polls as well as accepting election results in order not to plunge the country into chaos.

This, according to the electorate would help deepen and consolidate the gains of the nation’s democracy and push forward national progress.

They made the call in a survey conducted by three civil society organizations - Tim Africa Aid Ghana (TAAG), West Africa AIDS Foundation (WAAF), and Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), as part of an election project the CSOs are implementing in the country.

Titled “Managing Election 2020- Related Violence for Democratic Stability in Ghana”, the CSOs are implementing the 15-month project, being funded by STAR-Ghana in Tain and Banda Districts in the Bono Region and Asunafo North Municipality and Asunafo South District in the Ahafo Region.

The goal of the project is to establish the level of knowledge of electorate on the election, and its related violence in their respective communities and ascertain the understanding, perception and social inclusion of key social groups about the EC and its operations at the local level.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of GloMeF, a human rights and anti-corruption media advocacy non-governmental organization, and the project lead implementer who disclosed the outcome of the survey to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani said 180 respondents from 20 communities were reached.

The electorate indicated the Election 2020 was crucial for particularly the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and further called on the EC to strengthen the Election Management Bodies at the constituency levels to make them more proactive and efficient as well.

“The EC must make their presence well-felt by increasing their community-level programmes to deepen the electoral knowledge of voters at the grassroots, their mandate and activities as well”.

They underlined the need for the electoral body to ensure that socially excluded people such as People with Disabilities were actively engaged in the electoral management processes at the local levels.

Political parties should also integrate vulnerable groups into their activities to promote strong inclusiveness and increase their participation in the electoral processes.