Presidents must command six regions to win election
-Says Prof Ninsin
By: Phyllis D. Osabutey
A SENIOR Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Professor Kwame Ninsin has called for a review of Ghana's electoral laws to ensure that a presidential candidate wins a 50% + 1 vote majority in at least six regions to emerge as President.
He said this would ensure that the country elects a President who truly represents a majority of the people and prevent the election of an 'illegitimate victorious President' by dint of winning heavily in a few stronghold regions.
According to him, the current electoral system whereby a presidential candidate is expected to pull 50% +1 of votes cast to win the national elections assume that the figure would be spread evenly across the regions in the country, but available evidence indicate otherwise.
He said the situation whereby a party or candidate wins a presidential election in areas with most populated voters, and the area mainly of one particular ethnic group, does not auger well for national peace and cohesion.
In view of this, he is proposing 'a quasi-electoral college system of presidential election', with the formula of '50% +1 of the valid votes cast in not less than 6 regions plus 50% +1 of the national votes cast.'
Professor Ninsin was speaking at an internal seminar on 'Reforming the Electoral System for Balanced Distribution of Power and Equitable Representation' in Accra, yesterday, intended to be submitted to the Constitutional Review Commission after deliberations on it by a memorandum drafting team.
He said the electoral reforms were important because the current system of 'Winner Takes All' (WTA) as the basis for legislative and executive power was exclusionary and undemocratic, such that 'it denies the majority who did not vote for the winning party equitable representation in parliament and inter-election participation.'
This also denies small parties that command reasonable electoral support the opportunity to represent those who did not vote for the winning party, he noted and stressed that 'the system is not working to strengthen democracy in the country.'
He cited examples in which the other parties pulled more proportion of votes than the winner of the election, such as in Hemang Lower Denkyira where the winner got 35.3% as against the others 64.7%, and in Builsa South, where the winner got 36.5% against the others 64.0%.
Also in Sisala West, the winner obtained 36.10% against 63.30 of the others, in Sisala East the winner obtained 37.20% against that of the others and 62.80% among others.
This, he pointed out, 'polarizes the nation into virtual two party dominant system with implications for perpetual interparty conflict.' Hence, he is proposing an alternative electoral system of Proportional Representation (PR), which he noted has the potential to enhance democratic participation by all, give all and sundry a stake in the governance of the country as well as 'minimize inter-party conflict and ensure political stability.'
Specifically, Prof Ninsin would want Ghana to consider implementing the Mixed Member PR (MMPR) system, which equals combination of the WTA and National Compensatory Seats (NCS). Under this system, there would be an additional 115 NCS, representing 50% of the total of two hundred and thirty (230) constituency seats, which all the other political parties that win a stipulated minimum percentage of national votes cast would share in proportion to the vote they won.
On the other hand, 'all political parties that win 40% or more of popular votes are not entitled to the NCS', he noted, and added that the NCS would also help address the issue of women representation through a Virtual List PR.
He explained that by the Virtual List PR, all political parties would nominate one male and one female for every constituency they contest, adding 'every political party will assign 40% of constituency seats it wins in the election to the women on its constituency list to encourage consensus building.'
Furthermore, he is calling for decoupling of parliamentary and presidential elections with the former pegged at mid June and the latter at mid September to make the election of Members of Parliament independent of that of their presidential candidates. Also, it 'would encourage peaceful and orderly transfer of power, and more time for the in-coming president to assume office.'
The Senior Scholar stated it was also important to consider rebalancing executive and legislative power under Article 78 (1), 79 (1), 70 and 71, which vests excessive power in the president to the disadvantage of parliament.
He also wants amendment of Articles 78 (1) and 79 (1) to separate the personnel of the executive arm of government from that of parliament because 'transferring powers of appointment from the president to parliament and giving parliament spending and oversight powers over the public bodies would encourage the growth of parliament into an autonomous body able to restrain the president, and ensure improvements in the governance of the country.'
Another area of amendment he pointed out was Article 70 and 71 to vest the power of appointment in parliament, acting on the advice of a constitutionally mandated Public Service Authority (PSA), and power to determine salaries also in parliament acting on the advice of the PSA, and re-vests power to authorize all public expenditures in parliament, saying these Articles give too much power to the President over everyone, including parliament.
However, participants expressed various positions on each of the recommendations made by Professor Ninsin, which the Professor indicated would be collated and factored into the memorandum that the drafting committee would work on and present same to the Constitutional Review Commission.