EC cancels registration certificates of 17 political parties

The Electoral Commission has struck out the names of some 17 political parties from Ghana’s political parties register.

Between May and June 2022, the EC embarked on a nationwide exercise to inspect the offices of all registered political parties in Ghana.

But after the exercise, the EC invoked Section 15 (3) (c) of the Political Parties Act of 2000, Act 574, which mandates it to cancel the registration of Political Parties which do not have offices at the National and Regional levels.

“The general public is hereby informed that the registration certificates of the underlisted political parties have been cancelled in accordance with Section 15 (3) (c) of the Political Parties Law, 2000 (Act 574) effective the 1st day of November 2022.”

Prior to the revocation, some of the affected political parties resisted the move.

Akwasi Addai Odike, the leader of the United Progressive Party, had earlier accused the Electoral Commission of disrespecting smaller parties following the notice to revoke the registration of 17 of them.

“This woman [Electoral Commission Chair] doesn’t respect me as a person. Even when I want to meet her to discuss something, never has this woman allowed me to meet her,” Mr. Odike complained on Eyewitness News.

“All the information was provided to them, so I don’t understand why she makes a U-turn to throw into the public space that they cannot find our offices.”

“Sometimes NDC and NPP fail to submit even their audited reports, and it takes the EC to go after them for many months before they submit it. These are normal things that happen to political parties,” Odike added.

Meanwhile, reacting to the move, political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, called on all stakeholders to support the Electoral Commission in its bid to enforce its regulatory mandate.

“Democracy is expensive, so if you have political parties worth their salt, and they satisfy all the requirements that make them political parties and say we practice multi-party democracy, then they should all be on the ballot papers if we have the resources.”