A legal practitioner, a governance expert, and the First Vice Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) have welcomed the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling abolishing the delegate-based electoral college system used by political parties to elect their presidential and parliamentary candidates.
They described it as a major step towards deepening internal party democracy, accountability and inclusiveness.
They spoke in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic.
The ruling, delivered on July 29, 2026, requires political parties to replace the delegate system with a mass electoral system that allows all members in good standing to participate in the selection of presidential and parliamentary candidates.
The three are a legal practitioner and a member of the Legal and Communications Team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu; Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante and the First Vice Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Joyce Larbie.
Mr Adawudu said the decision would make leadership choices more reflective of the will of party members, while Dr Asante, described it as a significant step towards strengthening Ghana’s democracy.
Mrs Larbie said the CPP fully accepts the judgment and will amend its constitution and internal electoral processes within the one year granted by the court.
Broader participation
Mr Adawudu said the judgment would require aspiring leaders to engage with the entire party membership instead of concentrating on a limited number of delegates.
“Leaders will now have to account to the entire party community for what they have delivered instead of focusing on a few delegates,” he said.
He added that the ruling would reduce the influence of delegate blocs in determining party leadership and encourage leaders to prioritise the interests of the wider membership.
While welcoming the ruling, the three agreed that political parties would have to undertake significant reforms to comply with the decision.
Mr Adawudu said parties would need to review their structures to accommodate broader participation while managing the cost of internal elections.
Dr Asante said opening internal elections to all members would improve accountability and participation, explaining that many party members currently felt excluded from decision-making and candidate selection.
“You cannot expect a legitimate process after elections when the process through which candidates were selected is ignored,” he said.
Dr Asante proposed the establishment of a Democracy Fund, expenditure caps on campaign spending and Electoral Commission supervision of internal party elections, adding that state financing would enhance transparency and reduce the growing influence of money in politics.
CPP’s position
Mrs Larbie said the ruling was not new to the CPP because the party had previously practised both the mass and delegate systems.
According to her, the CPP adopted the mass system under its founder, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, before transitioning to the delegate system after independence.
“We are for the people, we are for the nation, and we are for democracy. Once it has been ruled, we will embrace it and implement it,” she said.
Mrs Larbie, however, acknowledged that expanding the electoral college to include all party members would increase the cost of organising internal elections because of the larger membership involved.
She said the CPP had argued before the Supreme Court that the state should finance internal political party elections and would study the full judgment, expected on August 5, to determine whether the issue had been addressed.
The Supreme Court held that restricting the selection of presidential and parliamentary candidates to delegates infringed the constitutional political rights of party members and directed all political parties to amend their constitutions and internal electoral processes within one year.
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