Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe
Three individuals have initiated a legal process at the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the delegates-based system used by major political parties to elect their presidential and parliamentary candidates.
The plaintiffs are cardiothoracic surgeon and former Minister for Environment, Science and Natural Resources, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, medical practitioner, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, and former Minister of State, Dr. Christine Amoako-Nuamah.
They are seeking constitutional declarations against the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Convention People’s Party (CPP).
According to the suit filed on January 23, 2026, the parties’ internal electoral arrangements materially disenfranchise ordinary party members and violate the democratic principles entrenched in the 1992 Constitution.
The plaintiffs further contend that the NPP, NDC, and the CPP have replaced broad-based democracy with a “restricted electoral college” system.
The suit specifically targeted provisions in the political parties’ constitutions including the NPP’s Article 13, which limits presidential selection to an electoral college, the NDC’s Articles 43 and 44, which reinstate a delegate structure over universal suffrage and the CPP’s Articles 53, 96, and 77, which use a National Delegates Congress model.
According to the document, this system “severely disenfranchises” hundreds of thousands of ordinary party members in good standing, effectively creating a “privileged voting class”.
“The delegate-based Electoral College system… which confines or restricts voting to specified executives… to the exclusion or material disenfranchisement of members in good standing of the party, contravenes the Preamble and Articles 1, 17, 33(5), 35(6)(d), 42 and 55(5) of the 1992 Constitution,” the plaintiffs argued in their statement of case.
The Attorney General and the Electoral Commission (EC) have also been joined as defendants, with the plaintiffs contending that the EC has failed in its constitutional and statutory duty to ensure that the internal organisation of political parties conforms to democratic principles as required under Article 55(5) of the Constitution and section 9(a) of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574).
Under these current rules, it said only a tiny fraction of party members—typically executives, office holders, and selected delegates—are permitted to vote for a flagbearer.
The legal team, led by Oliver Barker-Vormawor, is asking the Supreme Court to declare that the “internal organisation” of any political party must mirror the democratic principles of the national constitution.
A Daily Guide Report