Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson has issued a fervent call for Parliament to intervene in the actions of the Electoral Commission (EC), citing concerns over decisions that could endanger Ghana’s democracy.
In his opening remarks on Parliament’s return from recess on Tuesday June 11, he stressed the Commission’s conduct during the limited registration period, which he argued undermines the integrity of the electoral process.
While acknowledging the EC’s independence, Ato Forson emphasized that it does not extend to making “dangerous, ridiculous, and outrageous decisions” that jeopardize national peace and stability. He called for a Committee of the Whole to address these urgent issues.
He pointed to the situation in February 2023, when the Caucus accused the EC of taking unwholesome decisions and incurring public disaffection.
He pointed to the EC’s decision then to restrict first-time voter registration to EC offices, which he said risked disenfranchising many eligible voters.
“That reckless decision had the potential to disenfranchise or deprive the vast majority of first-time voters the opportunity to have their names captured on the voter register,” Forson stated. He added that this made the registration process “difficult, cumbersome, painful, and laborious.”
He further detailed the financial and logistical burdens imposed on Members of Parliament, parliamentary candidates, and political parties.
He described the registration process as “frustrating” due to long travel distances, delays from queues, and frequent equipment and network failures.
He lamented that despite the backlash and lessons that should have been learned, the EC repeated these ‘terrible decisions’ in the recent voter registration and ongoing vote transfer exercises.
“The Electoral Commission is making a simple electoral process very cumbersome, frustrating, expensive and burdensome,” he said.
The Minority Leader warned that these actions undermine public confidence in the electoral process and could negatively impact the 2024 general elections.
He also condemned the EC’s inconsistent policies, noting the recent reversal of a ban on party agents monitoring the vote transfer exercise only after significant pushback from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and public outcry.
“These developments are unhealthy for our electoral process and democracy and go a long way to ground public perception of bias on the part of this particular Electoral Commission.”
“Why must this Electoral Commission always take questionable decisions which create chaos and confusion across the country,” he queried?
The Minority leader questioned why the EC’s actions consistently threaten the peace and stability of Ghana’s democracy and require extensive public backlash to rectify. “This is worrying!” he exclaimed.