Candidates seeking places on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) national executive should follow all applicable election regulations, according to the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and the Electoral Commission (EC).
When they met with all of the candidates and the party's election committee, which is presided over by Mr. Peter Mac Manu, a former chairman of the NPP, top officials of the EC and the police election committee delivered the advise today (Friday, July 8).
The National Delegates Conference for the NPP, which will elect its national officials, is scheduled to take place in the Accra Sports Stadium from Friday, July 15, to Sunday, July 17, 2022.
Therefore, the meeting with the EC and the police on Friday was a part of the party's preparations for the delegates' conference.
Follow the law
Elections are controlled by rules, thus it is crucial that candidates and especially their supporters observe those regulations, according to Dr. Serebuor Quarcoo, Director of Electoral Services of the EC and one of the EC representatives present at the conference.
The police informed them during the conference that it would execute the law if anyone broke the electoral regulations, he added. He claims that at the meeting, the EC walked the candidates and the election committee through the procedures and modalities of the polls.
He stated that the EC planned to set up 26 voting places and hoped to complete the election process in about five hours. Once more, he stated that the EC was preparing its officials for the elections in order to make sure that it efficiently carried out its role of overseeing the polls.
He explained, "The NPP is in charge of the elections, but our job is to oversee the polls in accordance with the laws of the nation."
Sensitisation
Evans Nimako, the NPP's director of elections, told the Daily Graphic that the gathering was a chance for all election participants—the candidates, the organising committee, the EC, and the security services—to get together and discuss how to effectively execute the polls.
The necessity for the candidates and their supporters to conduct themselves in a way that would not undermine the elections, he claimed, was brought to the candidates' attention.
"We talked about the register, the voting process, and other things. The election organising committee reassured them that all of their worries regarding proxy voting would be correctly addressed when they expressed reservations about it, he added.
Additionally, he stated that there were clear norms and procedures regulating political party elections, and the party would not defend anybody who disobeyed them.
"We anticipate the police to take up any matter pertaining to violation of the law during the conduct of the polls as they have informed us they will," he added.
"This stakeholder involvement will guarantee that we have a seamless arrangement for a successful election," Mr. Nimako remarked in reference to the NPP's implementation of steps that would ensure free, fair, transparent, and credible elections. Delete the billboards
The NPP National Council has also mandated that all candidate billboards in open areas be taken down.
The removal of the billboards was part of new regulations imposed by the party for the conduct of the elections, according to a statement dated July 7, this year, and signed by Yaw Buaben Asamoa, the party's director of communications.
A restriction on mobilising supporters of the candidates to the conference, a ban on the exhibition of any candidate paraphernalia at the conference site, and a full ban on excessive noise making during the delegates' conference were among the other new rules.