Supreme Court Was Right Not To Scrap Delegate System Outright – Suame MP John Darko Says Parties Must Now Build Credible Album
Accra, July 29, 2026- Member of Parliament for Suame and Minority Spokesperson on Legal and Constitutional Matters, Hon. John Darko, has waded into the landmark Supreme Court judgment on Ghana’s political party delegate system, saying the apex court took the most practical path by not imposing an immediate cancellation.
The Supreme Court today, July 29, delivered its much-anticipated judgment in the suit filed by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe and Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah, which challenged the constitutionality of the delegate-based electoral college used by the NPP, NDC and CPP since 1992.
The plaintiffs had asked the court to declare the system unconstitutional, to compel parties to allow all members in good standing to vote directly, and to order the Electoral Commission to enforce the Political Parties Act.
A GhanaWeb news roundup for today lists among the major headlines: “Supreme Court declares delegate system unconstitutional”.
Speaking in an interview after the ruling, Hon. Darko described the judgment as historic but warned against a simplistic interpretation that the delegate system is dead overnight.
“Why would you cancel the delegate system when at the long run, you have to create an album?” the Suame MP quizzed.
According to the lawyer-MP, the real challenge has never been the word “delegate” but the integrity of party membership systems.
“The Supreme Court has affirmed that meaningful participation, equality and inclusiveness under Article 55(5) are non-negotiable.
But the Court was also careful not to throw political parties into chaos. If you say one-member-one-vote tomorrow, where is your credible, verifiable national album? Who is a member in good standing? How do you prevent infiltration, duplication and vote-buying on a mass scale?” he asked.
Hon. Darko argued that the plaintiffs were right that the current system “concentrates voting power in the hands of a limited group” and “shuts out ordinary party members”, a concern also backed by the Attorney-General’s office which described the case as one of the most impactful constitutional cases in the Fourth Republic.
However, he said an outright abolition without transitional orders would have been unenforceable.
“What the Court has done is to declare the principle – that restricting presidential and parliamentary primaries to a few hundred selected delegates violates democratic principles – while giving parties and the Electoral Commission time and direction to reform. That is sound jurisprudence.”
He called on the NPP, NDC and all parties affected to immediately begin:
1. A forensic audit and digitization of party membership: Biometric or verifiable party ID system linked to dues payment.
2. Publication of a provisional album: Allow members to verify their status long before primaries.
3. EC supervision: As the plaintiffs demanded, the Electoral Commission must move from being a bystander to enforcing Section 9 of Act 574.
“At the long run, you cannot run OMOV [One Member One Vote] without an album. And creating a credible album in Ghana’s political environment costs money, takes time, and invites litigation.
The Supreme Court was right not to just cancel the delegate system with a stroke of a pen and leave a vacuum,” Darko stressed.
He urged Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Committee to invite the EC and political parties for a roadmap within 6 months, warning that without a clean register, replacing delegates with universal suffrage could simply “expand vote-buying from 6,000 delegates to 2 million members.”
