National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah says the party is prepared to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to replace delegate-based presidential and parliamentary primaries with a one-member-one-vote system within one year.
However, he warned that abolishing the delegate system would significantly increase the cost of organising internal elections, particularly because political parties would need to produce enough ballot papers and establish a reliable register of eligible members.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express programme on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the credibility of the membership register would be central to the success of the new arrangement.
“The most important thing in such elections is the register. If you get a correct register, then you are good to go,” he said.
He estimated that the NDC would need between one million and two million ballot papers to conduct its presidential and parliamentary primaries under the proposed system.
Despite the logistical and financial difficulties, he said the deadline imposed by the court was achievable.
“One year is enough. We can do it.”
The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-2 majority on July 29, 2026, that the delegate-based electoral college system used by political parties was unconstitutional. It ordered all registered political parties to allow every card-bearing member in good standing to vote directly in presidential and parliamentary primaries.
The seven-member panel, chaired by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, gave parties one year to implement the ruling. It also determined that decisions and appointments made under the previous delegate system before the judgment would remain valid.
The case was filed by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe and Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah, with the Attorney-General’s Department supporting the action.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the NDC could use the branch election register compiled during its recently completed branch elections as the starting point for the new voting system.
The party has yet to decide whether to reopen registration for new members or for people who have only recently become eligible to participate in the primaries. It must also determine whether the existing register will be used for both internal party elections and the presidential and parliamentary contests, or whether a new registration exercise will be organised specifically for those primaries.
He stressed that the Supreme Court judgment did not affect the NDC’s current internal leadership elections. Those elections, covering branch, constituency, regional and national executive positions, will therefore proceed and are expected to conclude with the election of national executives later this year.
The NDC previously used universal membership suffrage for its presidential primary in 2014. Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the system was abandoned after the party lost the 2016 general election, when some members blamed the method used to select the presidential candidate.
“We did it successfully, but there were challenges. I thought that the challenges were things that were not insurmountable,” he said.
He also renewed his call for the state to finance presidential and parliamentary primaries organised by the Electoral Commission for certified political parties.
His argument is that the candidates selected through those contests go on to seek public office, meaning political parties should not have to meet the full cost of the process themselves.
To guard against misuse of public funds, he proposed creating a regulatory body to certify parties that meet constitutional requirements before they become eligible for state support.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the proposal was included in the government’s position paper on the recommendations of the Constitution Review Committee.
