The Director of Research and Elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described the 34 electoral reforms of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as problematic and bizarre.
Mr Nimako, speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News on Thursday, said though the NDC is permitted to have their electoral proposals, he finds it unusual that they blame the Electoral Commission (EC) for losing the 2020 Presidential election.
He also quizzed why the party failed to blame the same Commission that handled the parliamentary election which they had 137 seats.
“I’m saying that the proposals of the NDC, they are entitled to it, but they are problematic and bizarre. The NDC has issues with the conduct of the 2020 parliamentary and presidential elections.
“The same election that was conducted by the EC that they managed to obtain 137 seats in parliament or that one they don’t have issues but the presidential that they lost and went to court and loss again, they are challenging it and attributing their loss to the EC,” he said.
Mr Nimako indicated that he does not think the EC should be faulted in any way since it provided political parties with the opportunity to review the 2020 election.
The NDC is requesting to have the Chair of the EC to be appointed with prior Parliamentary approval on the basis that the current mode of appointment may be susceptible to partisan influences since it is per the provisions of Article 70 (2) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that, “the President shall, acting on the advice of the Council of State, appoint the Chairman, Deputy Chairmen, and other members of the Electoral Commission.”
Commenting on the NDC’s request, he noted that there is nothing wrong with the appointment of EC because the “NPP under the 1992 constitution in this 4th Republican era, we’ve won election in 2000 when the EC was not appointed by the NPP. We won 2016 when Madam Charlotte Osei was the EC Chair, so we don’t think that the problem is EC.”
Meanwhile, the Jean Mensah-led EC has directed the NDC to table its proposed electoral reforms before the Interparty Advisory Committee (IPAC) for dialogue.
The Commission said it is open to suggestions and feedback to enhance its electoral process but insists IPAC is the appropriate forum for such suggestions.
The directive was after the EC took delivery of the NDC’s proposals.
“We don’t deal with individual parties, and IPAC is designed to promote multi-party views, so IPAC is the right forum for such discussions. So we responded to their proposals and asked the party to bring it to IPAC,” it said.