Dr Abu Sakara Forster, a former presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), has suggested that the country should consider the option of practising a coalition government to broaden inclusion in the nation’s political dispensation.
He bemoaned that the country was essentially running a duopoly which is entrenched by the electoral rules and regulations mandated only one outright winner saying “The 50-per cent-plus-one electoral rule and regulation that we have is not working in terms of broadening out alternative political forces and voices in the political landscape.”
Dr Forster, who is the founder of the National Interest Movement, pointed out that it was evident in the number of votes cast in favour of the two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as opposed to other political parties on the fringes.
“Although Ghana practices a multi-party system where any political party can win power, only two political parties have governed the country since 1992, in the 1992 elections, the NDC and the NPP accounted for 88.7 per cent of all valid votes which has increased steadily over the years to the point where the two main parties accounted for 94.8 per cent of the votes cast in the 2016 elections, you see that the 50-per cent-plus-one electoral rule that we have is not working in terms of broadening out alternative political forces and voices in the political landscape.
“To remedy it, a system in line with “first past the post” option so that political parties who are able to cross a certain threshold in elections are given the “opportunity to form coalitions” instead of going for a runoff that will ensure that we are not going to have a second round and keep voting till somebody wins and if you don’t get the 50-per cent-plus-one, look around you and form a coalition with other parties and make it up,” Dr Forster noted. -citinewsroom.com
