The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to hold a high-level parliamentary Seminar on 20 years of Democratic Elections in West Africa.
The seminar which is billed to take off in the Ghana’s coastal city of Winneba from October 13 will be held under the theme “Evaluating Two Decades Of Democratic Elections In The ECOWAS Region: Achievements, Challenges And The Way Forward.”
The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, is expected to deliver the opening address.
The main goal of the seminar is to assess the electoral systems in the Member States to identify the challenges and proffer solutions to the shortcomings in the organization of elections.
Despite several decades of democratic practice resulting from elections and multiparty politics, democracratic consolidation as well as political and institutional instability has continued to be an issue in the sub region.
Based on this, panels of dialogue, consultation, and promotion of democracy in ECOWAS Member States will be held at the seminar with the former President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Mohammed Chambas moderating the sessions.
The seminar is scheduled to be followed by the 2021 Second Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament which will focus on the consideration and adoption of the draft of the 2022 budget of the Community Parliament.
The ECOWAS Parliament is composed of 115 seats of parliamentarians from member countries.