The upcoming presidential and legislative elections in Ghana, scheduled for December 2008, will provide an entry point for International IDEA’s assistance to political parties.
International IDEA undertook a mission to Ghana 15-20 June 2007 and met with political party leaders and civil society organizations to conduct a needs assessment for the internal democracy of political parties project. After its pilot phase in Nepal, the project is now to be extended to other countries.
The Accra meetings helped to identify the current internal needs of the major parties in Ghana and their attitudes towards implementing reforms to create greater internal democracy. The discussions resulted in International IDEA offering to prepare a policy paper on the issue of internal democracy in political parties. It will build on International IDEA’s Research and Dialogue with Political Parties programme.
Kojo Asante and Peter Owusu-Donkor of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development welcomed the proposal and suggested that the policy paper addresses the situation of some of the smaller but established political parties, as well as the two major parties in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The policy paper is to be released in early 2008 and would feed into the debate well before the general election later that year. The intention is to allow time for parties to take concrete steps to implement recommendations for reform regarding candidate selection vis-à-vis women, minorities and youth.
As Ghana is considered a democratic model for West Africa, the policy paper on party reform would contain recommendations applicable to other countries in the region.
International IDEA’s report Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty Democracy was also launched on 19 June 2007. The main findings were presented by Theo Dowetin, International IDEA’s Programme Manager for West Africa, based in Ghana. Also, the findings of International IDEA’s Ghana country report were presented to a meeting of some 40 people, including representatives from the NDC and NPP.
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