The CPP says comments by its flagbearer, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet that he may pull out of the 2016 presidential race in protest against GHS50, 000 filing fee was meant to be taken lightly.
CPP Director of Communications Rauf Kadiri says although the party is officially opposed to the amount demanded by the Electoral Commission (EC) from all presidential candidates, it has no plans of withdrawing from the race.
“When the flagbearer spoke about the party withdrawing he spoke on a lighter note. The position of the party to Ghanaians is that we will use every legitimate means to oppose it,” he said.
EC at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting last Thursday pegged the filing fees for presidential candidates at GHS50, 000 and parliamentary candidates at GHS 10, 000.
The main opposition NPP and other opposition parties have expressed concern that the fee is too high. The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) are accusing the EC of trying to mainstream the election to only the leading political parties namely the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Reacting to the EC’s decision on Adom FM Saturday, the CPP Standard Bearer says he would not pay the GHS50, 000 filing fee and if that means the party should forego the general election they might do so.
Barely hours after Mr Greenstreet granted the interview; Mr Kadiri says the flagbearer’s comment was not the official position of the party.
The decision to increase the filing fee for presidential candidates from the 2012 fee of GHS10,000 to GHS50,000 in the 2016 election represents a 500 percent increase.
The new fee for parliamentary candidates of GHS10, 000 is a 1,000 percent increase from the 2012 fee of GHS1,000.
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