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Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former President of the Electoral Commission (EC), called for due diligence and careful thought before the country proceeds to register Ghanaians living abroad to They can vote in the internal elections.
Parliament pbaded the 2006 Law on the Amendment of the Representation of the People (ROPAL) (Law 699) to allow Ghanaians from the diaspora to register and vote in the internal elections.
The EC must still fully implement the law.
At a conference at the New Year School and at the University of Ghana Conference in Accra, Dr. Afari-Gyan said that given the complexity of the processes related to openness From the flow of voting to Ghanaians from abroad, further work was needed to ensure that the movement would not become counterproductive.
He spoke on the subject: "Improving the electoral process for the consolidation of democracy."
Diligence
Dr. Afari-Gyan said, for example, that it was necessary to clearly determine whether Ghanaians in the diaspora would vote by proxy, by mail or be required to show up in person to vote.
In addition, he said, the question of whether Ghanaians in the Diaspora should be forced to vote in all general elections in the country should be resolved.
"We need to know if Ghanaians living abroad will vote in any elections in the country, how the vote will run and how to follow the system to ensure that the integrity of the process and the results will not occur. not be altered.
"It will be extremely difficult and burdensome for the EC to process large documents to allow all Ghanaians abroad to vote by proxy; voting by mail also means that there must be a robust tracking system that allows to prevent the process from being misused, there is not much delay in reporting results, "he added.
Path to follow
The former boss of the EC has hinted that the solution was to limit the vote of Ghanaians abroad to only the presidential elections.
He also advocated that Ghana's foreign missions serve as voting centers for elections.
"All Ghanaians living in all parts of the world can not be registered and forced to vote, and if we insist that every Ghanaian must sign up and vote, it will be cumbersome and unachievable, so we should use our embbadies and consulates for this purpose, "he added. I said.
EC's integrity
Speaking about ways to improve the electoral process with a view to democratic consolidation, Mr. Afari-Gyan said that it was necessary to take steps to make the EC stronger. truly independent and adequately resourced to hold credible elections.
"We need an EC that will have impartial, transparent officials in their work, who will provide a high quality electoral service and who will also have great expertise in ethics." We all make mistakes, but ethics competence will require EC officials to decide not to voluntarily do so, "he said.
Afari-Gyan said the EC could improve its core mandate of putting in place an electoral process that ensures easy access to electoral services.
He also urged the EC to take pragmatic steps to protect the secrecy and sanctity of the votes.
He urged the commission to continue to take advantage of technology to improve the electoral process, but warned that such a regime should not prove to complicate the electoral process.
He added that all stakeholders and citizens should be involved in the process of ensuring electoral reforms to consolidate the country's democracy.
Mr. Afari-Gyan called for the adoption of measures to finance political parties so that they are powerful enough to participate in the electoral process and strengthen democracy.
Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), said all stakeholders in the electoral process should commit to playing their role well in consolidating democracy in the country.
He stated that the role of the EC was crucial and that, therefore, all obstacles to the proper functioning of this institution should be removed.
He noted that no single process has the electoral process and that all citizens must therefore also be involved to obtain credible results.
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