• He indicated that EC should be able to table the proposal at IPAC and not NDC
• The NDC says appoints of EC commissioners appear partisan and they want it changed
Alex Segbefia, has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to take the proposals made by the opposition NDC which is aimed at reforming the country’s electoral system seriously.
According to the Head of the International Relations Desk, the EC should not take an entrenched position on the proposal, but rather consider it.
He was speaking on Newsfile, on Saturday, August 28, 2021.
He stated, “As for me, my first issue is that they (EC) should consider our recommendations seriously regardless of whether the NDC is at the table or not. If the recommendations are good for Ghana, they should implement them and stop being confrontational, after all, NDC isn’t the only party at IPAC. We have so many parties at IPAC, so the EC should have tabled our proposals so we all look at it collectively.
“We have also been to a lot of places where the content of the recommendations hasn’t been challenged. The content of most of the issues have been accepted as very useful documents and a lot to learn from because actually most of them are not new.”
The NDC at a press conference on Wednesday, August 25, 2021, made some proposals for reforms in the country’s electoral system.
Key among them is, the appointment of electoral commissioners which should be made with prior approval of Parliament.
The party explained, the current mode of appointments makes the EC appear partisan.
The NDC further stated that, their proposals were informed by perceived flaws in the 2020 election, which warranted a presidential election petition after John Mahama rejected President Akufo-Addo’s election victory.
In presenting the proposals to the EC, the Jean Mensa-led Commission then directed the party to table its proposed electoral reforms before the Interparty Advisory Committee (IPAC) for dialogue.
Alex Segbefia