NDC calls for state funding of party primaries after Supreme Court ruling

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the government to fund political parties' internal elections through the Electoral Commission (EC), saying a new one-member-one-vote system ordered by the Supreme Court would be too expensive for parties to finance on their own.

National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the state should budget for the Electoral Commission to organise party primaries free of charge because the new system would allow more party members to participate in choosing parliamentary and presidential candidates.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, monitored by The Executive Spotlight, Mr Asiedu Nketia said the proposal had become necessary following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling directing political parties to replace

Ghana's delegate system with one-member-one-vote elections within a year.

"I expect that even though the system is good, since we are being compelled to help citizens exercise their civic and democratic rights, it will serve very well if you ask the state to budget for this exercise so the Electoral Commission can conduct it free of charge," he said.

He argued that the Electoral Commission's role represented the largest cost of organising nationwide internal elections.

"Because that will be your biggest cost line. The EC. If they can conduct it free of charge, then it will help every political party," he added.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said the NDC's experience demonstrated the financial implications of the system.

He said the party spent nearly GH¢14 million on its 2014 one-member-one-vote internal elections after setting up

more than 8,000 polling stations nationwide and paying for election materials and Electoral Commission officials.

"The Electoral Commission didn't contribute one cedi," he said.

He added that one-member-one-vote elections would require substantially more resources than the current delegate system.

While delegate elections require fewer than 400,000 ballot papers, he said, nationwide voting by party members could require between one million and two million ballot papers, alongside additional polling stations, election materials and election officials.

Responding to concerns that state funding could encourage the creation of political parties seeking public resources, Mr Asiedu Nketia backed proposals to establish an independent office to regulate political parties.

He said such a body would ensure that only organisations meeting constitutional requirements, including having structures in at least two-thirds of Ghana's districts, qualify for official recognition and any public support.

The Supreme Court's ruling gives political parties and the state one year to implement the one-member-one-vote system, which the court said would broaden participation in the selection of presidential and parliamentary candidates.

Despite the additional costs, Mr Asiedu Nketia said the NDC remained confident it could meet the court's deadline, citing the party's previous experience with the voting system.