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Joshua Alabi and Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah
Six candidates for the presidency of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) congratulated the party's National Election Committee (NEC) for taking the trouble to produce the guidelines for the conduct of the presidential election of the country. left.
However, they maintained that the guidelines contained certain shortcomings that needed to be addressed urgently.
They also called for due diligence to address the shortcomings in the operational guidelines that had been developed for use in conducting the party's next presidential primaries.
A letter dated February 10, 2019, signed by Dr. Yaw Ato, on behalf of the Technical Committee of Aspirants, called for all deficiencies in the guidelines to be corrected to ensure that the electoral process is free and fair.
Six aspirants
The six candidates are Mr. Alban Bagbin, Professor Joshua Alabi, Mr. Sylvester Mensah, Mr. Augustus Tanoh, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and Mr. Nurudeen Iddrisu.
Former President John Dramani Mahama is the seventh nominee but is not one of six petitioners.
One of the issues raised by the six candidates was that the guidelines did not provide an adequate description of the electoral processes to be conducted and monitored by officers.
They also added that the guidelines did not clearly specify the rights and obligations of the various stakeholders, including the agents, the electoral commission, the elections committee and other party officials.
In addition, they argued that the document did not provide the standards to which the Elections Committee had been subjected and the grievance and redress mechanisms available to candidates.
Among the other grievances raised by the candidates, it is stated that "no notice of poll was issued two weeks after the election, and that the candidates were not invited to oversee the printing or distribution of notices, which means that the EC has violated its guidelines ".
They also expressed concerns about problems with the constituency, the voting process and the printing of ballot boxes, which should be resolved immediately to prevent the integrity of the electoral process.
Alban Bagbin and Augustus Tanoh
Commitment
The letter to the party's NEC chairman, Kofi Attoh, indicated that the candidates were ready to discuss the outstanding issues with the election committee.
"We appreciate the efforts of the Elections Committee to produce the document, but we believe that the operational guidelines could be significantly improved if they were to support a free and fair electoral process.
"We have attached comments for your consideration. We are available to discuss this at the proposed meeting for Tuesday, February 12, 2019. We are also available to help draft amendments if that is acceptable, "says the letter.
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Sylvester Mensah and Nurudeen Iddrisu
Context
Representatives of the six presidential candidates warned senior party officials of a "chaotic" and "controversial" election imminent likely to disrupt the party's electoral calendar.
According to the representatives of the six members, who are part of a joint technical committee, despite a series of commitments and repeated badurances of good faith by party leaders, much had not been done to make sufficient progress towards a free and independent society. just survey.
Yaw Akoto, Abdul-Nbader Alidu and Victor Kwadjoga Adawusu, three representatives of the six candidates, dated February 5, 2019, with a copy to the chairman of the NDC Elections Committee, Mr. Kofi Attoh, have not sufficiently discussed and the conclusions documented. Electoral processes do not follow a logical progression.
The letter was also forwarded to the Secretary General of the party, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia; the president, Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, as well as the chairman of the party's former board, the former president, Jerry John Rawlings.
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