The Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to expedite the processes of approving the proposed new Constitutional Instrument (C.I) to avoid potential lawsuits.
It noted that the EC's plan to use the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for voter registration was currently uncertain, as it awaited approval from Parliament for the C.I.
"Failure to collaborate with Parliament and facilitate the necessary processes before the District Level Election can lead to legal challenges against the EC," the centre cautioned.
This year's District Level Election is scheduled for October 3, 2023, but the date is subject to change pending the approval of the proposed new C. I by Parliament.
Paul Aborampah Mensah, Programmes Officer of CDD-Ghana, who raised the concern, asked the EC to expedite the processes of approving the proposed C.I. because failure to collaborate with Parliament to facilitate processes before the district level election to avoid lawsuits.
He reiterated the need for timely action since qualified voters who had turned 18 years to vote and cautioned that "if we do not complete the registration processes before the election, people will sue the Electoral Commission, and they will win.
"We have the district level election this year, and we are expected to allow qualified voters who have turned 18 years to vote, because they have turned 18 years, and we have not facilitated the processes for them to get onto the register to vote and we need to expedite action on it.
"The EC need to take quick decision between it and Parliament to agree on common ground, so that we are able to have the CI to facilitate the processes urgently of reaching consensus to ensure issuance of the C.I.," Mr Mensah underscored.
Highlighting the urgency of reaching consensus between Parliament and EC to ensure smooth processes and facilitate the issuance of C.I., he called on EC to prevent repeat of the vacuum that occurred in 2014 due to a lawsuit and importance of finding common ground promptly to proceed with the preparations of the election.
While the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has opposed the EC's proposed CI, contending that it could disenfranchise many Ghanaians, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, defended the policy aimed to improve the integrity of the electoral processes.
