The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the Supreme Court’s ruling affirming the “one member, one vote” principle for political party internal elections will not affect its preparations for the next presidential and parliamentary primaries.
The party’s Acting IT Director, Jibril Mahdi, said the NDC had consistently supported reforms to the delegates system and was therefore comfortable with the court’s decision.
“I will state that it will not have any effect because we are yet to prepare our guidelines towards the presidential and parliamentary elections. The NDC was already in support of this ruling,” he said on Channel One TV.
He explained that the party had been operating in line with the principle before the legal challenge was brought.
“This is what we were doing until some citizens went to court to seek clarification on these issues. So, for the NDC, we are okay with this ruling, but we are yet to see all the modalities in the ruling. Then we’ll take it from there,” he stated.
The comments follow the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that political parties cannot restrict participation in the election of their national and regional executives to selected delegates, holding that such arrangements are inconsistent with the constitutional right of party members to participate in internal political processes.
The court’s decision effectively entrenches the “one member, one vote” principle in the election of political party executives, requiring parties to allow all eligible members to vote in those contests.
Political parties are expected to study the full judgment and adjust their constitutions and electoral guidelines where necessary to comply with the ruling.
Meanwhile, the NPP has questioned the implication of the ruling on funding.
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