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EC under pressure for credible elections?

A successful election this year for Ghana relies on the Electoral Commission being ready to educate citizens and monitor contesting parties. Pulse.com.gh political reporter Emmanuel Tornyi looks into the EC and asks if it is up to the task.

 

The prospects for democratic governance in Ghana largely depend on the effectiveness of the Electoral Commission (EC) in managing credible elections.

If Ghana is to develop then the democratic institutions of state must function properly and with integrity. Some democratic institutions such as the Institute of Economic Affairs, IMANI Ghana, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the  Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) need to be commended for keeping the EC on its toe for supervising SIX successful elections since 1992.

When, for example, you have a government that is incompetent or corrupt, the only hope for the people is that at the end of a four year term they will at least be given the opportunity to vote out that government and try an alternative.

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Persistent challenges with election violence, intimidation, fraud and other malpractice – notably in party strongholds and highly competitive voting areas - could be attributed to the incompetency and under-development by government.

Ghana’s quadrennial general elections will continue to be a highly competitive, largely two-party contest, between the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  and the opposition (New Patriotic Party).

Ghana’s elections will remain or grow increasingly more tense as parties and candidates fight to retain their strongholds and gain marginal advantage in competitive constituencies, in an atmosphere of tightening electoral margins.

The basic (constitutional) structure of power in the state will remain fundamentally unchanged: imperial executive; supine parliament; independent but generally conservative judiciary.

In other words, political initiative or consensus for far-reaching changes to the constitution will be hard to get.

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Changes in electoral process since 1992

Pressure for changes and improvements to the election management system and for the delivery of more credible, inclusive, and free and fair elections will continue to mount.

Comparative learning from the experiences of other African multi-party elections, for example, Nigeria improved on their election management and important milestones like a party turnover in government, competing away Ghana’s exceptionalism in this area.

Ghanaian political parties and civic actors will take notice, begin to take lessons from these experiences and demand comparable domestic changes.

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The EC of Ghana has always been determined to conduct credible elections. To this end, it undertook radical measures to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

Strength and weakness of the EC

The formation of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) was a major move toward fostering consensus building in the management of the electoral process.

Transparency of the electoral process has been furthered by the acceptance of party agents at registration and polling stations.

Voter education has been grafted onto the electoral process. Trained EC public educators are active in the rural constituencies and peri-urban areas where media penetration is weak to offer extensive election education to the voting population during election years.

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The security of the ballot has been a primary concern of the EC.

When the 1992 election cleaved society, the EC undertook measures that had far reaching consequence on the subsequent credibility of the elections. EC’s strategic initiatives reassured the public and engendered their confidence in the electoral process. The ballot box was changed from opaque to transparent, the I.D cards were also changed from black and white to coloured. The EC was highly praised for these electoral reforms.

One weakness of the EC I believe is its inability to rigidly enforce the electoral rules. The flagrant disregard of EC's rules by the parties regarding financial auditing, organizational establishment and maintenance of structures gives an impression that the EC is ineffective.

The prevailing inter-party conflicts may owe its consequence to this perceived weakness of the EC.

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Such occurrence could be attributed to the death of the Upper West regional chairman of the NPP, the murder of a footsoldier in the NPP, and the countless suspensions that has bedevilled the party.

On the other hand, party footsoldiers of the NDC will chase District Chief Executives out of office due to non-performance or the youth looking for jobs.

The increasing exploitation of incumbency by the ruling party in every election may have resulted from the non-enforcement of inter-party discipline.

In the face of EC inactiveness to enforce the electoral rules to restrain the incumbent, the opposition could conclude that the only surest way to survive in the uneven competition is to act in their own way to halt the incumbent excessiveness.

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Voters' register

The EC held a 2-day forum which brought all interest groups, particularly political par­ties, to brainstorm on the way forward regarding the bloated register - some of the parties are call­ing for a new one to be compiled.

Opinions favour a fresh register for the sake of peace, as religious leaders and other concerned citi­zens advocate.

Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission said her outfit would continue to uphold the rule of law and create a level playing field for all the political parties.

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She said no political party or pressure group could stampede the EC in the discharge of its constitutional duties.

EC not ready for November polls

The Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, Jean Mensah had recently indicated that Ghana is not ready for the elections.

She said even though the EC has put out its timetable for the election, it has not yet rolled out programmes on public education to sensitise voters on what to expect at the polls.

But,  acting Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Christian Owusu Parry told Pulse.com.gh, that the IEA should exercise some restraint, as the EC is already embarking on a few internal programmes the public might not be aware of.

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"We have already set in motion some of the activities. And for now, all that we are doing is internal. We are going according to the programme. And I know the IEA is aware of the programme we are following," he said.

This is the beauty of democracy in Ghana where opinions are sorted from the 'common man' on the street of Ghana.

To this end, all eyes is on the EC to conduct a free and fair elections on Monday, 7 November, 2016, for the seventh time.

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