ACILA to launch sub-Saharan Africa's first Vote Match in Ghana
The first deployment of Vote Match, an interactive medium for facilitating voter education and engendering accountability from duty bearers, is set to be launched on Tuesday, next week, by research and education think tank, Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA).
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The launching, to be performed by Mr. Justice Emile Short, former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is on the theme “Facilitating Voter Education and Engendering Responsiveness and Accountability from Duty Bearers.”
According to a statement signed by Mr. William Nyarko, Project Manager of Vote Match Ghana and Executive Director of ACILA, Vote Match has a quiz component, which tests a likely voter’s political preference in a few statements, adding that the questions on the quiz are based on the manifestos of the presidential candidates/political parties.
"A voter is presented with questions, representing the policies of the candidates. At the end of the short quiz, the voter is presented with a result, which provides information indicating that based on the choices selected, the voter agrees more with the policies of one candidate than the others”, Mr. Nyarko said.
He explained that in addition to the quiz, there is a second aspect to Vote Match Ghana, which is an accountability component.
“The accountability component tracks the manifesto promises of the candidate after the candidate wins the election and takes office. The public will be invited to take periodic surveys to assess the performance of the duty bearer. ACILA will analyze and release the results in the form of a “Job Approval” rating”, he said.
He noted that some of the outcomes of the deployment of the Vote Match include voters who are informed about the policies of the presidential candidates and are able to distinguish between the policies for informed decision-making; an electioneering campaign based on issues and the proffering of alternative solutions, and an informed electorate that holds the duty bearer accountable to the policies the duty bearer proffered during the electioneering campaign.
The Vote Match initiative was based on an earlier survey conducted by ACILA on the issues affecting the electorate in December 7 presidential election of Ghana. The survey results showed that the top three issues on the needs of the majority of the respondents were jobs, cost of living, and corruption.
