ECOWAS Parliament’s high-level meeting will focus on reforming region’s electoral process – Speaker

Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Dr Sidie Tunis has said that the Parliament will hold a high-level meeting in Winneba, Ghana to come up with positive electoral reforms for ECOWAS Presidents.

Tunis disclosed this in a phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday ahead of the high-level meeting and Extraordinary Session which will hold from Oct. 12 to Oct. 22.

NAN reports that the high-level meeting has the theme: “Two Decades of Democratic Elections in ECOWAS Member States: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects”.

According to Tunis, the high-level meeting of ECOWAS Parliamentarians seeks to proffer solutions to the political instability in the sub-region – a situation that has stemmed from electoral inconsistencies in some member states.

He said the Parliament, as a matter of urgency, was taking steps to deter other countries from toeing the line of Mali and Guinea following the military takeover in both countries.

“From the high-level meeting, we hope to come up with concrete proposals for the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government to see how best we can make recommendations for electoral reforms in members states.

“Considering that most of the challenges that have caused political instability in the past two years, especially in Mali and Guinea all emanated from electoral inconsistencies, we are hoping that the ECOWAS Parliament will chart a new roadmap for the electoral process, peace, and stability of the sub-region.

“Basically, we will review the electoral process of member states in the past 20 years and (consider) how to beef it up.

“We will also examine Observer Missions to see if they have been doing very well and how they can also improve,” Tunis said.

NAN also reports that President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana who is the Chair of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government is expected to attend the meeting.

The high-level Seminar will hold from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 to be followed by the Second Extraordinary Session of the Parliament from Oct. 18 to Oct. 22.

The Extraordinary Session of the Parliament will focus on examining and adopting the Community Parliament’s draft budget for the 2022 financial year. (NAN)