The presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama, has conceded that his party is in dire need of money to pay for the filing fees of the party’s presidential and parliamentary candidates for the 2008 elections. He told Joy News it has been a headache for the PNC to ‘cough’ a total sum of GH¢115,000 for the 230 parliamentary candidates plus GH¢5,000 for himself. Meanwhile, the filing of nomination forms ends on Friday, October, 17 2008. “What is holding me back is, we filed as a party and the fees of five million is proving a difficulty for the party because you are looking at 230 constituencies times 500 that gives you GH¢115,000. This is not easy money to come by; it is proving difficulty for the party.” Despite reservations expressed by some political parties that fees are ‘exorbitant’ and petitioned the Electoral Commission (EC) for a downward review of the fees, the EC has stated that it will maintain the filing fees of GH¢5,000 and GH¢500 for the presidential and parliamentary elections respectively. The EC however noted; “These filing fees are refundable to candidates who obtain 25 per cent of votes cast in the case of presidential elections and 12.5 per cent of votes cast in the case of the parliamentary elections.” The Convention People’s Party, the National Democratic Congress, the New Patriotic Party, Reformed Patriotic Democrats and an independent presidential aspirant, Mr Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah, are expected to file their nominations at the EC’s headquarters today. Story Isaac Essel