Executive Director of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa (ACCA), Rev Dr. Opuni- Frimpong has called for a threshold to ascertain who qualifies to be on the Presidential ballot sheet in Ghana’s elections.
According to him, the ability of the candidate vying for a slot on the ballot paper must not be tied to them being able to pay their nomination fee to the Electoral Commission.
“I think, with what we have observed, something should be done to a party that is unable to meet a certain threshold for two or three consecutive elections. As of now, when you collect the ballot sheet, it is very long and at the end of the day, you see the performance, some of them could not even get 500 votes in the whole country,” he posited.
Rev. Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic after providing initial findings of the observer teams of 100 pastors deployed in eight regions to observe the just ended general election held on December 7, 2020.
He further questioned the justification for the use national resources on candidates and their respective parties that could not make a significant impact on the election outcome.
Meanwhile, some smaller political parties on the other hand have rejected similar calls for the reduction of the parties and candidates on the ballot sheet.
The People Convention Party and the National Democratic Congress for instance have described any reduction in the number as “a recipe for disaster.”
They claim their existence serves as checks and balance on the two major political parties, National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com