Elections 2004 (Results) - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana Office

The 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections
INTER-PARTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (IPAC)
The mechanism for ensuring the active involvement and constructive engagement of the political parties in the
design and implementation of the programmes of the Electoral Commission is the IPAC. The Political parties through
IPAC made invaluable contributions towards the resolution of disputes and the improvement of the electoral system
during the preparation towards the 2004 general elections. At the national level, party General Secretaries and or
Chairmen represented the parties at IPAC meetings and through these all inter party issues and problems of importance
were conveyed from the districts and regions for consideration. Through the same channels decisions arrived
at were conveyed to the regions and districts. The ultimate objective was to ensure peaceful co-existence between
the parties and in an election year this mechanism was intended to contribute towards the delievery of transparent
free and fair elections to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. In connection with the preparations towards the procurement
of materials for the 2004 elections, Government proposed the setting up of a procurement committee for the
Electoral Commission. The Commission disagreed with the proposal and the political parties threw their weight
behind the Electoral Commission.In the end the Government had to give way to the Commission to act in accordance
with the law.
However, one area where the political parties vehemently disagreed with the Electoral Commission was the
Commission’s decision not to install scoreboards for the 2004 elections. The Commission’s argument was that with
the proliferation of electronic and print media it would not be necessary to mount scoreboards, the primary aim of
which will be the dissemination of election results.
The political parties insisted that the scoreboards should be installed. In view of time and financial constraints only
regional scoreboards were eventually installed.
Under IPAC, positions of the parties on the ballot paper and the notice of poll for the 2000 elections were balloted
for. This arrangement was repeated for the 2004 elections (see table (10) below).
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