The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) says the GH¢100,000 nomination filing fee fixed by the Electoral Commission (EC) for the 2020 presidential election is too high.
According to the PPP, it is a difficult decision coming at a difficult time, the National Secretary of the PPP, Papa Kow Ackon said.
“They have taken this decision without consulting IPAC [Inter Party Advisory Committee]…we find it a bit troubling that this decision has come at this time.”
In a radio interview with Accra based Joy FM on Monday evening [September 14, 2020] in a reaction to the announcement of the nomination filing fee and date, Papa Kow Ackon said, “we all know the fee for 2016, the EC charged about GH¢50,000 and so for this to be increased by over 100 percent, this is just not on.
He said the EC needs to be questioned whether it has the necessary statutory backing to fix the new fee.
He said on Wednesday [September 16] the PPP will have its national committee meeting and it would be discussed “but clearly it is a difficult decision, we are in a difficult moment in our history and it is important if the EC is making decisions, it must factor all the economic challenges people are going through in this country. We should not fix fees at that high level and say that becoming a president is a tough thing or a serious thing and so anyone who expresses interest must cough some high fees.”
The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has also expressed concern about the fee.
The General Secretary, Nana Yaa Juantuah said in the Joy FM radio interview that the EC should not just set charges without explanation and without consulting IPAC.
“Whatever it is, we should know the reason for the increase. Why did they leave the parliamentary one at the same level [GH¢10,000]
Presidential and parliamentary aspirants for the December 7, 2020 Elections in Ghana are to file their nomination from October 5th to 9th, 2020, the Electoral Commission (EC) has announced.
The Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa made this known at a press briefing Monday evening, [September 14, 2020].
The nomination fee for presidential aspirants is GH¢100,000. This is a 100 percent increase from the GH¢50,000 fee which was paid in 2016.
That of parliamentary aspirants, is GH¢10,000, same as what was paid in 2016.
Per past practice, the filing fee or nomination fee that the aspirant pays is refunded after the election if he or she gets a certain percentage of the total valid votes cast in the election.
The percentage is 25 per cent in the case of the Presidential election and 12.5 in the case of the parliamentary election.
Unlike in the past where aspirants picked up the nomination forms from the office of the EC, this year the forms have been uploaded on the website of the EC.
Aspirants are therefore to download their forms from the EC website and submit it as part of measures to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In the past, the EC used just two days for the filing of nominations but this year, it has been increased it to five days.
The Chairperson of the EC explained that to “ensure the security and integrity of the nomination process, each political party will be provided with a unique password to enable them access the password protected nomination forms…the passwords will be provided to the general secretaries of the political parties.”
“It is important to note that independent candidates will also be issued with unique passwords. We entreat the general secretaries of political parties and representatives of independent candidates to kindly call and contact the Head of IT [at the EC] for to receive access to their passwords.”
Guidelines for filling nomination forms
The EC has provided a detailed guideline on its website for filling the nomination forms.
The EC will receive the filled out nomination forms for the presidential and parliamentary aspirants from Monday October 5 to Friday October 9, 2020.
The forms are to be submitted in quadruplicates.
That of the presidential aspirants are to submitted at the EC head office by the aspirants themselves or their supporters and to be received by the EC chairperson who is the Returning Officer.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EC has limited the number of persons to submit the forms at the head office or at the district office to five persons.
Source: graphic.com.gh
