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General News on Friday, January 18, 2019
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2019-01-18
Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former elections commissioner
Mr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former President of the Electoral Commission (EC), said that Ghanaians residing abroad should only participate in the presidential elections of the country.
He noted that, on the basis of certain considerations, the most practical and cost – effective way was to allow Ghanaians living abroad to vote only in presidential elections.
It recommended that Ghanaians living abroad and of voting age be allowed to register and vote in person at the country's high commissions, embbadies and consulates.
"I am aware that this position implies that we can not take the position that all qualified Ghanaians should be registered in order to vote. But I think that such a position would present us from the outset an impractical situation, "said Dr. Afari-Gyan during his presentation at the 70th Annual Conference of the New Year School and Conference in New York. University of Ghana.
The four-day program "Building Strong Institutions for Democratic Consolidation in Ghana" is organized by the School of Continuing Education and Distance Education of the College of Education of the University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. Local Government and Rural Development.
Dr. Afari-Gyan recalled that, as President of the EC at that time, he had informed Parliament on this subject as early as November 2002.
He stated that the issues at stake were legal, financial and practical; stating that Parliament would surely deal with legal issues and that the government would bear the financial burden.
"Then, let me ask some of the practical administrative questions in the form of two questions with brief comments: In which general elections will voters resident abroad have the right to vote?", A- he asked.
"I dare say that we should exclude the election at the district level, given the huge number of electoral zones and candidates."
He added that some countries allow their citizens living abroad to vote in the presidential election. stating that "among the countries that allow their citizens abroad to vote in the presidential and legislative elections, most of them have a proportional representation system, so voters vote for political parties and not for specific constituencies ".
Mr. Afari-Gyan also asked the following question: "How will the vote be held: by proxy, by mail or in person?"
With regard to proxy voting, Dr. Afari-Gyan said: "At present, relatively few Ghanaians abroad are eligible to vote by proxy".
He added, however, that there was no doubt that it would be extremely difficult and tedious for the EC to deal with a very large number of requests for proxy voting.
Dr. AfariGyan said about "mail voting": "Generally, mail voting requires an elaborate tracking system and can easily be abused because you never really know who voted . This could also easily cause problems for quick publication of results. "
Speaking on "Improving the Electoral Process for Democratic Consolidation", Mr. Afari-Gyan said that all Ghanaians familiar with the electoral process could contribute to its improvement.
He added that improving the electoral process meant making small changes in line with existing laws and making reforms through amendments or new laws, as appropriate.
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