Dead parties resurrected by EC to bulldoze its way at IPAC meetings – Mahama

Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, who is on his campaign trail has once again questioned the motive of the Electoral Commission ahead of the 2020 general elections in December.

According to Mr. Mahama, the Electoral Commission has deliberately resurrected some otherwise redundant political parties in a bid to ensure that its position on issues becomes a majority decision during the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings and also accused the EC of antagonising IPAC.

“Elections are about consensus so that we move together. That is why the IPAC is such an important body. Now, the IPAC is like an enemy to the EC. The EC doesn’t want the IPAC and they have gone to resurrect plenty dead parties and brought them to IPAC so that they can create the majority there and bulldoze their way through. If EC doesn’t build consensus and on election day, things backfire, it is going to backfire on them.”

John Mahama indicates that although there has been a course to get the EC to conduct the 2020 elections in a free and fair manner, emanating issues such as names of registered persons not being found on the electoral roll gives a very clear indication of the commission's failure to effectively collaborate with IPAC.

“All that we are doing is to help the EC have a credible election because the credit goes to the commissioners. But when they see us as enemies and do things their way without factoring in our concerns, then they end up with the kind of things we are seeing including missing names on the register”, he said.

Mr. Mahama whiles emphasising his party’s commitment to ensuring peace in the December polls reiterated the party’s position to not commit to accepting the results of an election that will be deemed flawed.

“As a party, we have participated in every election in the 4th republic and we have a history of accepting the results of elections whenever we have believed in the integrity of the poll. As the leader of the NDC, I wish to serve notice that we shall do all in our part to make sure that the country remains peaceful and that the electoral process proceeds smoothly. But, let nobody assume that we will accept the results of a flawed election,” he indicated.