IEA inaugurates enforcement body on electioneering

Cape Coast, Aug 6, GNA - A Senior Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Brigadier-General Francis Agyemfra (Rtd) has reiterated the need for all political parties to abide by the provisions in their code of conduct, and obey the electoral laws. He emphasized that the "root of thriving democracy, are to be found in peace, stability, law and order, as well as compliance by all stakeholders with well-defined electoral laws and codes". Brig-Gen Agyemfra made the call when he launched the 2008 Political Parties Code and inaugurated a seven-member regional enforcement body to oversee the adherence to the code in order to ensure a smooth and incident-free election.

The committee is chaired by Mr Samuel Tettey, Regional Director of the Electoral Commission.

The Code of Conduct, which has been designed to guide political parties to adhere to electoral laws and also ensure an even playing field for all parties, also entails a format by which various electoral breaches, such as the use of abusive and provocative language, abuse of incumbency, defacing of posters and bias media reportage, can be reported to the National Enforcement Body.

Brig-Gen Agyemfra said the 2008 election will be unique, in terms of its competitiveness and described it as the "mother of all elections", and warned that "the possibility of such intense competition generating into violence cannot be downplayed". The Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, commended the IEA for helping to consolidate democracy in the country and echoed calls on all parties to abide by the code to ensure a lasting peace.