The inability of the Electoral Commission to remove non-functioning political parties from the register has been explained by the Director of Electoral Services at the Commission, Dr. Serebuor Quaicoe.

He mentioned that the provision of the law of the 1992 Constitution about the functions of the Electoral Commission (EC) does not empower the Commission to decide on its own which party’s certificate should be revoked from the register.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe said that the decision of the Electoral Commission to invite every registered political party to IPAC meeting even though some of them, in reality, doesn’t exist is based on the fact that they still have their certificates as existing political parties.

“As we speak, we have not cancelled any political party that is not functioning as it should from our register. It is not as simple as people see it because before you cancel a political party from your books, you have to go through some lawful processes to revoked their certificate,” he stated.

“Once we have not removed the non-functioning political parties from the register, they are members till we use the lawful means to remove those that have not qualified from the list; we cannot remove from the list until the law allows EC to do so. When the time is due and the law allows the EC to remove them, we will do it, but for now, all the non-functioning political parties are still recognized and lawful political parties and we have every right to invite them for IPAC meetings,” he added.

He recounted that when the Electoral Commission was compiling the list of the political parties in the country for the 2020 general elections and IPAC meetings, some of the political parties looked unfamiliar to them but they have the certificate to operate.

“When we were compiling the list of political parties in the country, a certain political party brought its certificate and I was amazed because I have not heard the name of that political party before. It is a child who is truant in school; if you have not cancelled his name from the school’s register, you cannot say that you will not allow him to write the examination when it is time for it,” he argued.

“The law concerning the formation of a political party is not restrictive enough and so at the right time, we will make the law a bit restrictive because as we speak, the constitution does not spell out the way to remove a non-functioning political party from the register unless you go to the court. But we will better the law at the right time so that we will be empowered by the law to remove those parties we know are not functioning as they should. We cannot sit in the office and cancel some parties from the register,” he indicated.