Ghana will become world’s largest democracy–Group
Dr Kofi Boateng, Chairman of the Progressive Alliance Movement (PAM) has assured the nation will soon become the largest democracy in the world if the Representation of the People Amendment Law (ROPAL) is implemented.
He said although India is making democratic strides, Ghana could beat them with the implementation of the Act.
Dr Boateng’s comments follow an announcement by the Electoral Commission (EC) about setting up a Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) working group, which will be made up of representatives of registered political parties and civil society organisations.
The working group, the EC indicated, would undertake nationwide consultation with other relevant parties and would be tasked with the responsibility of defining the modalities, scope and timelines for the implementation of ROPAA.
On December 18, 2017, the Human Rights Court gave the EC 12 months to implement ROPAA and since the passage of ROPAA bill into law (Act 699) eligible citizens living abroad have the right to register and vote in Ghana’s elections.
The judgment also brings to rest the over 11-year hustle of implementing the ROPAA law since it was enacted in 2006.
In a statement issued from New York, United States said the movement was looking forward to contributing thoughts to the work that must be done to compile the requisite Legislative Instrument before the end of the year.
It said Ghana can claim the bragging rights over the largest democracy in the world. India also has a Representation of the People Act (1950) that limited overseas voting to service people in the army and government employees.
The statement said there should be no fear in the forward move to implement ROPAA the need to move forward to implement ROPAA and cited Senegal, Cape Verde, Namibia, Niger, Liberia, South Sudan, South Africa and the Cote d’Ivoire, have not been scared by overseas voting by their citizens.
“Ignore those who for selfish reasons want to hold Ghana hostage with fear that is never borne out by facts, all African countries focus on presidential elections and referenda while Morocco and Senegal allow overseas parliamentary elections for only the seats allocated to their citizens living abroad.
“Ghana will get to this more advanced and inclusive stage because all African countries utilise in-person voting at their missions, embassies, special places that are properly supervised and Namibia is experimenting with electronic voting,” the statement said. –myjoyonline.com
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