Levelling the electoral field

All the parties are upbeat about their chances at the Supreme Court but whether the plaintiffs or the respondents will win the case, that is up to the learned and honourable judges to determine.

It is our expectation that beyond the court case that has attracted public interest, the electorate will spare a thought about the conduct of elections in the country since 1992 and what to do to improve future polls.

Since the first elections in 1992 under the Fourth Republic, a section of the public has raised issues about abuse of incumbency, political party financing and the conduct of the polls.

Although we have won world acclaim for the peaceful conduct of the polls, there are some gaps that must be filled for our democratic process to make the desired impact on governance and the standard of living of the people.

Frankly speaking, the last elections witnessed a reduction in the abuse of incumbency because of the focus that was placed on the issue by civil society groups. We cannot vouch for a total absence of abuse of incumbency but the incumbent government was careful about the use of state resources to campaign for votes.

We still have a long way to go and as it is said that for public opinion to be effective it has to be sustained, we urge civil society groups and the media to continue to mount pressure on our governments to stop using our resources for private political party operations.

Furthermore, public debate about the public funding of political parties should be stepped up so that a level playing field can be created for all political parties to seek the mandate of the people.

The ruling party has access to a bottomless pit from which it draws huge resources to prosecute its campaign agenda to the disadvantage of the opposition political parties.

We know that very important ends are competing for the limited means but it will not be a bad idea for the state to provide a little support to all political parties as a way of deepening the country’s democratic governance.

The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the country also needs to pay more attention to the unacceptably high levels of rejected ballot papers with the view to finding the appropriate mechanisms to reduce the worrying trend.

In recent times the percentage of rejected ballot is enough to overturn the verdict and that explains why all stakeholders must be part of the solution to the problem.

The number of rejected ballot from 1992 should be a wake-up call from our slumber to take action to stem the tide.

In 1992, 64,354 votes representing 3.03 per cent of the total ballot were rejected; in 1996, 111,108 representing 1.53 per cent were rejected, while in 2000, 104,214 representing 1.58 per cent were rejected.

The rejected votes in 2004 were 118,123 representing 2.13 per cent; in 2008 they were 205,438 representing 2.4 per cent while in 2012 they were 251,720 representing 2.24 per cent.

These figures are not good enough and the earlier we take action to deal with the unacceptable trend the better it will be for the growth of our democratic governance.

The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, adds its voice to the concerns raised about the abuse of incumbency, the lack of a level playing field, high cost of campaign financing and the increasing level of rejected ballot in order to provide the conducive environment for multiparty democracy to thrive.