EC warns political parties against DAE The Electoral Commission (EC) over the weekend, warned all the political parties in the country to desist from supporting candidates contesting the District Assembly Elections (DAE), which is slated for March, 2015. It was stated that the DAE remained non-partisan; therefore, political parties which support aspirants (candidates) in one way or the other violates the District Assembly Act 1997 (Act 473); and are liable to a fine of GHc500 plus other penalties. However, the Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Amadu Suley, who took the media through some legal framework governing District Assembly Elections (DAE) amongst others, was quick to say that any institution that wants to support a candidate in kind or in cash, should do so through the Electoral Commission. He explained that his outfit plans to organize a common platform for all the district assembly aspirants to put across their vision and other things for their respective electoral areas when voted for. It was explained that all these and a number of measures have been put in place by EC to promote a level playing field for all aspirants. It was noted that there are candidates with expertise and leadership qualities which even the district assemblies could benefit from, but because they lack the resource, they are not elected to bring their leadership qualities and expertise to bear. EC organised a sensitization workshop for the media in collaboration with USAID, which was aimed at building the capacity of the media in election reportage and sensitising them on the Public Elections Regulations (C.I. 75). And to also enhance participation and stakeholder confidence in Ghana’s electoral process. Madam Gina, a lawyer at the EC and others added that any candidate who would also be caught obtaining support from political parties or using political jingles or colours would be banned from contesting the district assembly elections for a number of years. The workshop noted with regret the opposition NPP sponsoring candidate who used the party’s logo and its colours for his huge billboard mounted somewhere in the Ashante Region. This is contrary to the district assembly concept and as a result, gradually making the concept to lose its merit, said EC. Also, the media were made to understand that the public elections in Ghana are regulated by the Constitution, Legislative and Constitutional Instruments (C. I). Therefore, in 2012, the new legal document, C.I. 75 of Public Elections Regulations, 2012 was enacted to replace C.I. 15. In addition, the introduction of the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) led to the replacement of the C.I. 15, Public Elections Regulations of 1996 with the C.I. 75; consequently serving as the new constitutional instrument used to conduct the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Story: W. K. Adusu therepublicnewsonline
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:30:01 +0000
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