A Local Government Expert, Dr Oduro Osae, has suggested amendment of Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution to allow for participation of political parties in district level elections and governance.
"Allowing political parties to participate in such elections will whip up citizens' interest, address issues of low turnout and increase participation in local governance," he stressed.
Dr Osae said despite the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, there had been gross apathy among the citizenry in local governance elections leading to low turnout.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has set October 3, 2023, for conduct of district assembly elections however, with barely four months to the elections, concerns have been raised by some state and non-state actors over low citizens' interest ahead of the exercise.
Speaking at a stakeholder consultative forum organised by the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA) on the 2023 District Level Elections, in Accra, Dr Osae bemoaned turnout for district level elections had been declining from 59.3 per cent in 1988/89 to 33.6 per cent in 2019 as against national turnout of 2020 presidential election of 78.89 per cent.
The forum brought together relevant stakeholders to draw their attention to critical issues related to the elections, raise awareness to 2023 district level elections and strengthen their capacity to mobilise the citizenry for improved voter turnout.
"Government, between 2018 and 2019 pursued amendment of Article 55(3) to enable multiparty participation in the districts and 243(1) for election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), as part of efforts to reform local governance system and devolve more power and resources to local communities.
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"However, a planned national referendum scheduled for December 17, 2019, was cancelled for lack of adequate public knowledge and broad based consensus on the reforms it would entail.
"If we think involvement of political parties is not good at the national level, we should ban it but if we continue along those lines, then we should bring it to local level too because what is good for the goose is good for the gander," Dr Osae pointed out.
Samuel Tettey, a Deputy Chairperson in charge of Operations at EC said the Commission was concerned about the low turnout at district level elections and called for collaborative efforts to address it.
On the 2023 district assembly elections, he noted that EC was poised to conduct free, fair, credible, transparent and successful district level elections on October 3.
Mr Tettey explained that the Commission was waiting for Parliament to approve its Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 91 currently before the House which would enable them to commence registration of the electorate.
