Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Kofi Owusu Omar, has commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for the filing fee required of the December 2020 presidential candidates.
According to Chairman Omar, the amount is something that the country must embrace.
Speaking on Wontumi Radio and TV Morning Show on Tuesday morning, he indicated that, the EC is embarking on things that fit the system.
“Jane Mensah is far better than the previous EC boss. If she was appointed earlier, the electoral process would have been transformed massively.” Mr. Omar said.
“Some people stood on roof tops to criticize vehemently against the EC on the voters’ registration exercise but it didn’t wash and ended successful,” he said.
He noted that, it would be a wake-up call to all the political parties.
According to him, the amount would let people know the presidential candidates who are serious to contest in this year’s elections.
Background
The Electoral Commission has disclosed that aspiring presidential candidates who will be contesting in this year’s general elections are required to pay a filing fee of ¢100,000 with parliamentary candidates required to pay ¢10,000.
According to the Chairperson of the EC, candidates are expected to file and present their nominations between October 5-9, 2020 via the Commissions website portal.
Addressing journalists at a press briefing in Accra on Monday September 14, 2020 Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa explained that the decision was taken in line with COVID-19 safety protocols.
“This year’s nominations will be different from the previous years, as you are all aware, we will be operating within the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Commission has introduced a website portal for the filing of nominations for the general elections”
“The forms will be accessed on the commissions website; www.ec.gov.ghana/politicalparties and they will be available to all political parties from 6:00pm today [Monday September 14, 2020]”
The Chairperson explained that to ensure 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.
“This will be made available via their political party name folder on the portal and the password will be provided to the General Secretaries of the political parties,” Jean Mensa said.
She added that Independent candidates will also be issued with unique passwords.