Some women who are aspiring to be assembly members in Tamale in the Northern Region are demanding compensation from the Electoral Commission (EC).

According to the women, they have no money to embark on further campaigns after the cancellation and postponement of this year’s district level elections.

The women and some Civil Society Organisations this morning hit the street to protest what they say is the EC’s lack of seriousness towards the organisation of the district level elections.

One of the women who spoke to Joy News’ Hashmin Mohammed said “we really need to be compensated; we have gone through a lot”.

She added that all the time, money and effort invested in the first process cannot be allowed to go unaccounted for due to the EC’s negligence.

She also noted that the situation could have been avoided if Parliament spent a lot more time on the Constitutional Instrument (CI) for district level elections.

District level elections have not been taken seriously by government that is why things have gone wrong, she opined.

Meanwhile, some civil society groups are demanding the removal of those whose actions led to the spending of over Ȼ317 million on the botched elections.

The groups are also advocating the setting up of a fixed date for future district level elections.

Co-ordinator of the Civil Society Platform on good governance, Alhasaan Mohammed Awal said “EC and Parliament should work more closely than before to make sure that we have a fixed date for district level elections just like we have for the general elections. So that EC will not have that freedom to keep postponing elections.

“Those who have caused the nation this amount of money should be held responsible and if they have to be shown the exit, it is not out of our wish.”

He asked Parliament to consider combining all three elections (district level, parliamentary and presidential) to be conducted once every four years.

The Supreme Court last month declared the processes for the district assembly elections which were scheduled for March 3, 2015 as unconstitutional and ordered the EC to halt all advertisements concerning it.

Following the suspension of the elections, EC chair Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan was invited to parliament to explain why the process was botched.

Dr Gyan in his explanation stated that the EC proceeded with the processes of the elections because it was wrongly informed.

He also indicated that Ȼ317 million had been spent on the process and another Ȼ90 million will be needed for a fresh process to be conducted.