The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has called for a complete reform of the country’s electoral system to correct what it describes as ‘serious lapses in the electoral system’.
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PPP calls for complete reform of electoral system
The PPP says it has identified the lapses and brought them to the attention of the EC as early as December 11, 2012
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A statement issued by the National Secretary of PPP, Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, said the lapses had the potential of compromising the integrity of the next presidential and parliamentary elections.
“The PPP wishes to bring to the attention of the Electoral Commission (EC), stakeholders in the election management process, the international community and other political parties that there are serious lapses in our electoral processes,” it said.
The statement said the PPP identified the lapses and brought them to the attention of the EC as early as December 11, 2012.
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It said on September 2, 2014, the PPP re-submitted its proposals for electoral reforms in response to a letter from the EC on the Electoral Reform Committee.
“Regrettably, on both occasions, the EC did not acknowledge receipt of our letters and our proposals for electoral reforms were mysteriously excluded from the EC’s compiled document titled ‘Proposals for Electoral Reforms’.
“Subsequently, the EC did not include the PPP in the formation of the Electoral Reform Committee despite persistent protests to the EC in a number of letters written in September 2014. Undoubtedly, the PPP has been at the forefront of the campaign for immediate electoral reforms to address all the perennial challenges with our electoral processes,” it said.
The statement said in the wake of the heightened debate for a credible voters register, the PPP was of the view that the lack of a credible voters register was one of the many problems with our electoral processes.
It said it was crucial to identify a permanent solution to this cycle of complaints and counter-claims about the need to compile a new register almost every four years.
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PPP’s proposals
The PPP’s proposed solution, according to the statement, was for the EC to save time, money and logistical deployment by employing the National Identification System database for the compilation of the next voters register.
“We will not support the compilation of a new register if we are going to employ the same method of registration as we had in 2012. That will not solve the problems of minors on the register, foreigners on the register and the statistical inaccuracies associated with the register,” it said.
The statement said the PPP believed in continuous registration where citizens who turned 18 years and wished to vote would visit the district offices of the electoral commission to register at their own convenience throughout the year.
It said the EC must enforce the Political Parties Act and disqualify parties that did not meet the minimum criteria within the next three months.
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It recommended that the EC should begin the process immediately to put in place steps for the verification, documentation and auditing of campaign funding.
On the matter of voting, the PPP recommended that the EC move to a full electronic voting system similar to those found in Brazil, Mexico, etc. with some minimum conditions, including votes being transmitted electronically to two separate locations. International observers are allowed full access to the entire process and there shall be no closed door sessions at the polling stations.
Furthermore, two internationally recognised audit firms, under 50/50 contracts with local audit firms, audit the results independently and cross-check each other’s work.
It said the electronic voting machinery should be designed by a Ghanaian technology firm in partnership with an international major in technology and the voting machine designed such that "rejected ballots" shall be zero.
It also pointed out that each political party that meets the Political Parties' Law criteria to become a political party will be granted a seat on the board of the voting machine company.
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“We can no longer accept a system where over 250,000 votes are not counted. 250,000 votes are enough to decide an election,” it stated.
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