Election 2020: Parties urged to stick to manifestoes

Mr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, Executive Director of Kandifo Institute, on Thursday advised political parties to strictly campaign according to their manifestoes with just a few days to the general election.

He said the over 17 million registered voters need to cast their ballot based on the policies and programmes the parties had put forward.

He said engaging in issues contrary to those policies had the tendency to divert attention of the electorate from critically analysing the key issues in their manifestoes, which would enable them to make informed choices.

Mr Boakye-Danquah, who made the comments at a news conference in Accra, cautioned the media to avoid giving voice to the accusations and counter accusations by political opponents, with just four days to the general election.

He said such conducts did not auger well for the political discourse and democratic development of the nation.

“Ghana has grown in multiparty democracy and we have gone through four successive republics and it does not appear that this Fourth Republic would be thwarted by any disturbances because the Ghanaian people have matured politically,” he said.

“Speak to the issues, let’s do an issue-based campaign, let’s not talk about personalities, let’s not talk about videos that might have come out with no legal backing, let’s not destroy the airwaves just because one is interested in doing something untoward.”

Mr Boakye-Danquah said he was pleased with the manner and progress made by the Electoral Commission (EC) in the delivery of its mandate, adding that the Institute was optimistic of a credible and transparent election.

He, therefore, urged political parties to exercise restraint in publishing or announcing uncertified results, particularly on social media, as the EC was the only institution mandated by law to pronounce the outcome of an election.

“I want to admonish political parties not to allow their social media commentators or IT personnel to predict a certain kind of percentage to lead the public on to a wrong direction,” he said.

He cautioned the electorate against taking shots of their ballot papers as evidence, adding that it was illegal.