The Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), following a Two -day Review Workshop on the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, has come out with 16 point resolutions aimed at improving subsequent elections in the country.
The workshop was attended by representatives of the various Political Parties, except the country’s largest opposition party, the NDC.
Among the resolutions is a review of the time for closing of polls from 5:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Implementation of a Continuous Voter Registration Exercise to enable citizens who turned 18 years and those who had not previously registered to do so.
Other proposals made by the Electoral Commission at the IPAC meeting are the setting up of a committee to deliberate on the implementation modalities for the Continuous Voter Registration. The EC also wants the Continuous Voter Registration to be implemented with proof of citizenship being limited to the use of Ghana Card and Ghana Passport since the guarantee system is often abused.
On proposals on Voter Exhibition, the EC wants to introduce an all-year-round Voter Exhibition Exercise through the use of technology (SMS short code).
Additionally, they want to maintain the periodic mass verification at Exhibition Centres. In addition, the EC wants to put in place a cut-off time for the Continuous Voter Register Exhibition to allow for the compilation of the Register for voting on Election Day.
On Filing of nominations, the EC wants the Five (5) day period for filing of Nominations which was introduced in 2020 to be maintained. They also propose that the period set aside to enable the Political Parties to obtain signatures from their supporters to be increased, while the period for the Election Campaign should be defined and should commence after the nominations are filed.
The EC also wants to encourage nominations of female and persons with disabilities (PWDs) candidates by reducing their filing fees by 50 percent.
On Special Voting, the Current arrangement whereby the Media, Security Services and Election Officials are allowed to apply and vote under the Special Voting period should be maintained until such time that the process is fully entrenched.
