Legal expert and social commentator, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Prof Kwaku Azar, has proposed a 20-point plan to strengthen political parties and deepen internal democracy in Ghana.
Among his key suggestions is a call for the inclusion of party affiliation during voter registration, similar to practices in the United States, to help create a verifiable database of party members.
In a social media post on Monday, April 14, Prof Azar explained that capturing party affiliation during registration would also help regulate internal elections by ensuring only registered members can participate.
“Capture party affiliation during voter registration — voter registration should include party affiliation to create a verifiable party membership database and enable member-only participation in internal elections,” he stated.
He also proposed that internal party elections should be made mandatory among registered members, with the current delegate system scrapped to promote transparency and inclusiveness.
“Mandate internal party elections among registered members — parliamentary and presidential candidates must be chosen solely by registered party members through transparent and inclusive primaries,” he wrote.
Prof Azar further suggested that the state should financially support internal elections of qualifying political parties to reduce manipulation and create equal opportunities.
“Public financing of party primaries — the state should fund internal elections of qualifying parties to reduce financial manipulation and level the playing field,” he added.
According to him, the 20 proposed reforms aim to democratize party operations, enhance political competition, and insulate public governance from excessive partisanship.
