Presidential candidates wishing to contest the 2020 general election will be required to pay a filing fee of ¢100,000 while parliamentary candidates will pay ¢10,000, Electoral Commission (EC) Chair, Jean Mensa has said.
The latest increment was announced during the Let The Citizen Know Encounter held on Monday, September 14.
While announcing the opening of nomination for both presidential and parliamentary aspirants, Mrs Mensa said the forms can be accessed online.
“Each political party would be given a unique password and the password would be given to the general secretaries so they can access the forms online.
“Also, Independent Candidates will be given passwords so they can access the website and fill the form between October 5 to October 9.”
The decision to increase the amount follows a similar one made by the EC in 2016 ahead of the general elections.
Unlike the 2012 election in which presidential candidates were made to pay ¢10,000 as filing fees, the EC increased the amount to ¢50,000.
Again, nomination fees for Parliamentary candidates were pegged at ¢10,000 as against the ¢1,000 paid in the last elections.
The new amount was met with outrage by the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other smaller political parties in the country.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) argued that the NPP did not have the locus to complain about the fee since the party took even more than that for its primaries.
Monday’s revelation has, however, raised concerns about whether the latest amount will be disputed by the parties involved.
But defending the amount to be charged by the Commission, the Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr. Bossman Eric Asare said the amount was generous reconsidering recent happening.
“We did not increase because we can, but frankly, every four years we adjust the prices as far as the nomination fees are concerned.
“So in 2012 presidential was almost ¢10,000, 2016, it came to ¢50,000 and in 2020 it is now ¢100,000. And those of you who know the value of money in each particular year, it is important you look at the value of ¢50,000 in 2016 and compare to the same amount to now and you will know that the Commission has not increased it that much,” he said.
source:myjoyonline.com
