The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has canceled the registration certificates of 17 political parties in the country.
In an advertiser’s announcement in the national papers, the EC detailed that the termination of the registration certificates was largely due to the inability of the parties to establish national and regional offices across the country.
The parties are; the United Progressive Party (UPP), the United Front Party (UFP), the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), the National Reform Party (NRP), and the Reform Patriotic Democrats.
The others include; the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), United Development System Party (UDSP), Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE), Yes People’s Party (YPP), United Ghana Movement (UGM), New Vision Party (NVP), Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP) and the Ghana National Party (GNP).
The rest include; the Power Unity Party (PUP), People’s Action Party (PAP), United Renaissance Party (URP), and the United Love Party (ULP).
The EC disclosed that its action is in accordance with Section 15 (3) (c) of the Political Parties Act 574.
Prior to this termination, the Commission on October 13 and 17 raised a red flag to these political parties. It urged them to fulfill the requirements of the Political Parties Act 2000, by submitting to the EC, and their national and regional offices across the country.
It, therefore, gave them a stipulated time up to Thursday, October 20, 2022, to show proof of why their registrations should not be terminated.
The laws of the land mandated by the electoral body undertook a nationwide exercise to inspect the offices of all registered political parties from May 16 to June 9, 2022.
Following the nationwide inspection, it came out vividly that these Political Parties have no established offices at the national and regional levels.
By Lawrence Odoom