The Head of the International Relations Desk of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alex Segbefia, has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to stop its confrontational stance and take the proposals made by the NDC aimed at reforming the country’s electoral system seriously.
He bemoaned the entrenched position taken by the Commission on the party’s proposals, and urged it to rather consider them to transform the country’s electoral processes.
He asked the EC to consider the recommendations seriously regardless of whether the NDC is at the table or not.
“If the recommendations are good for the nation, they should implement them and stop being confrontational. After all, NDC is not the only party at the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).
“We have many parties at IPAC and the EC should have tabled our proposals so we all look at them collectively since we have also been to a lot of places where the contents of the recommendations hasve not been challenged.
“The contents of most of the issues have been accepted as very useful documents and a lot to learn from because actually, most of them are not new in making some proposals for reforms in the electoral system and key among them is the appointment of Electoral Commissioners, which should be made with prior approval of Parliament since the current mode of appointments makes the EC appear partisan,” Mr Segbefia said.
According to him, their proposals were informed by perceived flaws in the 2020 elections, which warranted a presidential election petition after former President and flag bearer of the NDC, John Mahama, rejected President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s election victory.
However, when approached with the proposals, the Commission directed the party to table its proposed electoral reforms before the IPAC for dialogue at which, the party said, it became disappointed and dismayed. – ghanaweb.com
