Implement exclusive systems for selecting parliamentary candidates …Political parties entreated
An aide to former President John Mahama, Dr Callistus Mahama, has entreated political parties to adopt and implement exclusive systems to select representatives for parliamentary elections.
Such a system, he explained, must be one where the decision to select parliamentary candidates was left to either an individual or a committee with regulated guidelines.
“The system must be such that where the decision to select parliamentary candidates is left to either an individual or a committee with regulated guidelines.
‘’With this system, a single party leader or a national party agency or committee is constituted to decide on the candidates to be selected without the approval or participation of the local members of the party or delegates,” Dr Mahama suggested.
According to him, although the method may be criticised as undemocratic which could be improved to reflect the tenets and aspirations of the 1992 Constitution through legislation.
Dr Mahama advocated a well-structured committee to appoint the candidate to include opinion leaders and people with integrity within the party and society and described the delegate system as “a breeding ground for corruption and weak governance in the country.”
He noted that the procedure where delegates choose representatives for parliamentary and presidential elections exposed the processes to dishonesty dealings which the method breached the principles of liberal democracy as delegates placed monetary gain over meritocracy.
Dr Mahama indicated that the expensive nature of the delegate system as being practiced currently in the country undoubtedly created the breeding ground for weak governments and corrupt leaders to start with and the delegate method of selecting parliamentary candidates was also gender biased, as women were extremely discriminated against.
“The delegate system can lead to voter apathy because the choices of delegates may not reflect the collective choice of the majority in the constituency and the majority of the voters may feel betrayed because of the choices of candidates made by the selected delegates.
“Voter apathy is a subtle means of disenfranchising eligible voters and, by extension, constraining the frontiers of democracy in general,” Dr Mahama stated.
