Pro-democracy civil society organisation, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), has urged the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to overhaul its structures following the party’s poor performance in the December 7 elections.
The NPP reduced its majority in Parliament from 169 to 137, losing most of the seats to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the parliamentary elections.
The results of the presidential polls released by the Electoral Commission (EC) also shows the NDC’s candidate John Dramani Mahama lost by about 500,000 votes to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo compared to about 1,000,000 in the previous polls.
AFAG’s General Secretary, Arnold Boateng, has described the NPP’s performance in the just-ended polls as abysmal and unacceptable.
“Most importantly, an expansion of the electoral college [by the NPP] will create the opportunity for all card bearing members to decisively elect constituency, regional, national executives and also parliamentary candidates.
“This will help minimise votes buying which increases corruption on a wider scale and also creates the opportunity for competent party loyalists to contest future parliamentary primaries,” Mr Boateng is quoted in a Citi News report.
The report further states that the AFAG General Secretary justified his suggestion for an expanded electoral college on grounds that it will encourage the grassroots party supporters to make the right choices and discourage the practice where wealthy members of the party use gifts to win interparty positions.
“Expanding the electoral college system will further deepen the relationship between the grassroots, party executives and Members of Parliament,” Arnold Boateng said.
He also urged the new NPP government to intensify its anti-corruption fight
AFAG wants NPP to overhaul its structures