Acting Director of Elections and Information Technology for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahdi Jibril has said it will “only take Satan to create problems” in the party’s upcoming constituency elections, citing the smooth manner in which branch elections were conducted.
Speaking at a party meeting, Mr. Jibril said the discipline and unity exhibited during the branch elections have given the national leadership confidence that the constituency elections will also be peaceful. He warned that only deliberate mischief could derail the process.
“The way we have managed our branch elections gives me confidence. It will only take Satan to create problems in the constituency elections,” he said.
Mr. Jibril announced that the NDC will soon begin constituency elections across the country.
He noted that the party has made significant progress in reorganizing its structures, but there is still room for improvement.
“So far, what we’ve done is good. There’s room to improve, and we’ll continue working towards that,” he stated.
The elections director also addressed petitions from large constituencies seeking to be split. He mentioned Dome-Kwabenya, Kasoa, Awutu-Senya, Kwabre East and other populous areas as requesting to be divided into two or three constituencies to ensure better representation and service delivery by MPs.
“All these come at a cost. Therefore, what we need is discipline. Even if we split the constituencies, discipline is the only thing that will make the work easy,” Mr. Jibril said.
He further reminded party members of a key provision in the NDC constitution regarding government appointees who want to contest party positions.
“There is a law in our party constitution that says if you are a government worker and you want to contest a position within the NDC, you must defer your job at least 6 months ahead of the elections,” he explained.
Mr. Jibril also commented on the recent Supreme Court ruling seeking to abolish the delegates system for electing presidential and parliamentary candidates.
He said the NDC was not surprised by the ruling because party members had long raised concerns about the disadvantages of the delegate system.
“The concerns about the delegate system have been with us for a while. Our members have been speaking about the challenges and disadvantages. So this ruling did not come to us as a surprise,” he said.
Mr. Jibril urged members to maintain unity and discipline as the party prepares for the next phase of its internal elections.
