Source: newsthemegh.com
This year’s District Level Election (DLE), the Electoral Commission (EC) has designated October 3, 2023, in accordance with its planned actions.
The DLE date, however, could alter if Parliament approves the new Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) that was suggested, according to the statement.
This was announced by Samuel Tettey, the Operations-focused Deputy Chairman of the EC, yesterday in Accra at a forum on the 2023 DLE.
The Forum’s theme was “2023 District Level Election: The Role of Stakeholders and Matters Arise,” and it was put on by the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA).
It addressed strategies to increase voter turnout, which has been at an all-time low for years, and was intended to inform stakeholders about the DLE.
Assembly and Unit Committee members will be chosen by the DLE.
Mr. Tettey stated during the event that the new C.I., which sought to make the Ghana Card the only document used for identification upon registration, had not yet been placed before Parliament.
When approved, he claimed, the new C.I. would control the nation’s ongoing voter registration.
“If this new C.I. passes, the commission will start the district-level continuous voter registration exercise,” he stated.
In addition, he noted that the commission’s internal operations, such as hiring new employees, logistics, and other aspects of election administration, may also be impacted by a change in the DLE’s scheduled start date.
He claimed that unlike the presidential and parliamentary elections, no deposit or filing fee was required of DLE candidates.
In accordance with his declaration, the EC would outline the election procedures via a number of public and voter education programs on the DLE.
In order to ensure the delivery of a free, fair, and transparent election, Mr. Tettey urged all stakeholders to support the EC by carrying out their responsibilities.
Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, a local governance expert, asked for the DLE to be politicized in order to increase voter turnout.
According to him, section six of the Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) as amended by Act 940 said that DLEs were to be held every four years, at least six months before the presidential and parliamentary elections.
He mentioned that eight consecutive local elections had been held in Ghana since 1988 in an effort to increase public involvement.
Despite the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, he claimed, there had been severe voter indifference in local government elections, which had resulted in poor turnout.
Compared to the national turnout for the 2020 general election, which was approximately 78.89%, “Turnout for DLE has been declining from 59.3 percent in 1988/89 to 33.6 percent in 2019.”
“Since we entered constitutional rule under civilian elected governments in 1993, we have never hit the 50% turnout mark, with the exception of the 59.3% turnout during the PNDC military rule,” he stated.
Dr. Osae suggested, among other things, amending article 55(3) to permit political parties to sponsor candidates, increasing public awareness of the DLE, and developing strategies to increase women’s and youth participation in order to increase voter turnout for this year’s DLE.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Dan Botwe, stated that the ministry would engage with the media to provide proper coverage on the DLE and that an Accra National Media Brief would be held to kick off the awareness raising.
In order to ensure a successful election, he reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to strengthening decentralization and working with stakeholders.
For her part, CLGA’s Deputy Executive Director Gillian Naadu Tetteh urged greater engagement from women and people with disabilities by encouraging them to run for office.