NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande says the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish the delegate system for political party primaries must be carefully considered because “excess democracy comes with its own issues.”

The Supreme Court, in a 5-2 majority decision, declared the delegate system used by political parties to elect presidential and parliamentary candidates unconstitutional.

The ruling means political parties must allow all registered, card-bearing members to participate in presidential and parliamentary primaries.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, Mr Gbande welcomed Ghana’s democratic progress but said expanding participation comes with challenges that political parties must address.

“I think that we must first of all congratulate ourselves collectively with civil society how far we have come and championing our democracy,” he said.

“We are not talking about coup d’états again, but we are seeking to strengthen and deepen our democracy. It comes at a cost and sacrifice.”

Mr Gbande said he has always supported what he described as “controlled democracy” because unrestricted participation can also create difficulties.

“I have always been an ardent student of controlled democracy, because excess democracy comes with its own issues, and so that is where my personal opinion is,” he stated.

He explained that the NDC has previously attempted a broader participation model in its internal elections but encountered challenges.

“It is not new to the NDC as a party. We’ve been here before in our own account, where we sought to deepen our participation, widen it to all members. We had our challenges with it, and we had to abandon it at some point in time,” he said.

According to him, the party is yet to fully examine the Supreme Court’s judgment before taking a position on how to proceed.

“This particular one is a body imposing on all of us to do it, the party is yet to read a judgment, come to a full appreciation of what the prevailing issues are,” he said.

Mr Gbande raised concerns about the financial and logistical demands that could come with allowing all party members to vote in internal elections.

“Who is going to bear the cost of the election? Because even managing our own college system, you would have to pay, sometimes, the electoral commission to supervise that election for it to be credible,” he questioned.

He also asked whether the state would support such elections and how parties would mobilise large numbers of members to participate.

“Is it the case that the state would do that? Now, who is going to do some mobilisation? It’s not easy to mobilise the number of people we are talking about, even to a voting centre,” he said.

Mr Gbande said the NDC will study the judgment and seek legal clarification where necessary before announcing its position.

“The party would now sit, read the judgment, understand all the issues that the court has raised and resolved. If there are any issues that we will seek clarification on in the judgment, that will be done,” he said.

He added that the party would take a final position after receiving guidance from its legal team.

“When the party said, I believe that will come to some very informed position based on what our lawyers explain to us, then we can have a concrete stand on it,” he said.