Governance Expert, Fred Oduro Agyarko, says the Electoral Commission (EC) must exhibit openness and transparency in its engagements with the political parties.
He said the EC must not depend on clauses that make it independent to ignore concerns by the political parties, particularly the opposition ones.
Speaking on GBC’s Current Affairs programme, “Focus,” in Accra, Mr. Agyarko said the EC must not underestimate the role of IPAC in its decision making processes saying all the political parties are major stakeholders when it comes to the organisation of elections.
The Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elvis Afriyie Ankrah said the recent posturing of the EC on some pertinent issues does not engender confidence in the electoral processes of the country.
On the EC’s limited voter registration, Mr. Afriyie Ankrah said the EC has been allocated enough funds for the exercise and expressed surprise that the commission is limiting the registration to its district offices and some selected electoral areas.
Mr. Ankrah said even the selected electoral areas have not been made known to the parties.
Director of Research and Elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Evans Nimako says so far as whatever the Electoral Commission does is permissible by law, it has no qualms about it.
He said these raising questions about the posturing of the Electoral Commission and it neutrality must first refer to the law if the Electoral Commission is breaching any of it laws.
Director of Policy for Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Kofi Siaw said geographical challenges may prevent some people from travelling to the Electoral Commission district offices to register, hence the need for the registration centres to be close to the people.
He said the Electoral Commission should also consider feeding into the National identification Authority database to get the biometric data of eligible voters to get them onto the national register.
