EC nomination fees: Here’s what the law says

The Electoral Commission on September 14 set filing fees for presidential aspirants at GH¢100,000.

The Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa, who announced the figure also said parliamentary aspirants would also have to pay GH¢10,000.

The cost of filing fees for presidential candidates, therefore, goes up by 100% while that of the parliamentary remains unchanged from the amount last set in 2016.

In the 2016 general elections, the fees for the Presidential aspirants was GHC 50,000.

The figure has set tongues wagging as civil society organisations, the main opposition National Democratic Congress and the smaller parties complain about what they described as astronomical increase.

Regulations 8(1)(b) of Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 127 to ensure that all aspirants for presidential and parliamentary elections paid approved filing fees as a means of placing value on those offices they sought to occupy.

Per regulations 8 (1b) of C.I 127, “a candidate for presidential and parliamentary elections shall, at the time of nomination of the candidate, deposit or cause to be

Regulation 46 (1) of C.I 127 states that: “Subject to regulation 13, a deposit made by a candidate under this Regulations, shall as soon as practicable after the results of an election is declared, be:

Returned to the candidate or the personal representative of the candidates, or b) forfeited to the state.

Regulation 46 (3) of C.I 127 forbids the EC from using the funds for its activites.

Regulation 46(3) states that “when a poll is taken and after the completion of the counting of votes, including a recount, a candidate is found not to have polled:

(a) in a parliamentary election, more than 12.5 % of the total value votes cast within the constituency, or (b) in a presidential election, more than 25% of the total value votes cast in the election, the candidate shall forfeit a deposit made and the deposit shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.”

This means that for a candidate to have his or her money refunded to him or her, one must garner 12.5% of the votes as a parliamentary candidate and 25% as a presidential candidate.