Asiedu Nketiah Calls on Government to Fund One-Member-One-Vote Party Primaries

• NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah urged the state to fund internal party elections through the Electoral Commission
• His call followed a Supreme Court directive requiring political parties to adopt a more inclusive candidate selection system within one year
• Nketiah revealed the NDC spent close to GH¢14 million conducting its own one-member-one-vote elections in 2014

National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has called on the Ghanaian government to allocate state funding towards internal party elections conducted under the one-member-one-vote system, arguing that the financial demands of running such exercises are too high for political parties to bear alone.

Nketiah made the remarks on PM Express on JoyNews, weeks after the Supreme Court issued a directive requiring political parties to adopt more inclusive candidate selection processes, giving them one year to comply.

Drawing on the NDC's own history, Nketiah disclosed that the party spent close to GH¢14 million when it conducted its one-member-one-vote primaries in 2014.

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The exercise required the establishment of more than 8,000 polling stations across the country, with the party covering the cost of election materials and allowances for officials recruited through the Electoral Commission.

He explained that unlike delegate elections, which require fewer than 400,000 ballot papers, a nationwide one-member-one-vote exercise could demand between one million and two million ballot papers, making it considerably more expensive to administer.

Nketiah argued that because the system expands democratic participation among party members, the state bears a responsibility to support it.

"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 identified the Electoral Commission's participation as the single largest cost component of such an exercise.

"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 said.

Source: YEN.com.gh