Six hundred and forty-one parliamentary candidates who contested the December 7 election lost their deposits as they failed to obtain the minimum 12.5 per cent of valid votes cast to qualify for refund.

This represents about 60 per cent of the 1,063 candidates who contested the parliamentary election, according to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) analysis of the results. The 641 candidates together lost 128.2 million cedis to the state.

The analysis also showed that only the two presidential candidates who contested the second round of the election on December 28 - Mr John Agyekum Kufuor and Vice President John Atta Mills - qualified for a refund.

The five others lost five million cedis each for failing to obtain 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in the first round. They are Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Prof. George Hagan of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Dr Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby of the United Ghana Movement (UGM) and Mr Goosie Tanoh of the National Reform Party (NRP).

According to the electoral laws: "If a candidate fails to obtain 25 per cent of the total valid votes cast at the presidential election, he or she forfeits the deposit to the state." The laws state that "a parliamentary candidate must obtain 12.5 per cent of the valid votes cast for a refund of deposit."

During the filing of nomination on September 14 and 15, the seven presidential candidates deposited five million cedis each while each parliamentary candidate deposited 200,000 cedis.

The statistics indicated that four out of the 200 candidates fielded by the out-going NDC government failed to obtain the mark while 33 NPP candidates out of 197 fielded failed to obtain the 12.5 per cent votes cast. For the CPP, 170 out of 191 candidates lost their deposits while for the NRP 163 out of 171 candidates lost.

The figures show that 136 out of PNC's 143 candidates won less than the 12.5 per cent of the votes while 99 of UGM's 103 candidates lost their deposits. They also show that 35 of the 55 candidates who contested as independents failed to make the mark while the only candidate of EGLE and all three of GCPP also failed to obtain the 12.5 per cent.

The GNA analysis includes candidates who withdrew after the ballot papers and related elections notices had been printed. The Electoral Regulations state that the name of such a candidate will remain on the ballot papers and related notices and he/she will lose the deposit paid at the time of nominations.

A regional analysis showed Ashanti, which recorded the highest number of candidates also, saw the highest number losing their deposits. It showed that 109 out of 175 candidates could not make the 12.5 per cent mark. Upper West recorded the lowest parliamentary contestants of 36 candidates and recorded the lowest number of those who lost their deposits.

Twenty candidates obtained less than 12.5 per cent vote cast. Others are Western - 40 candidates, Northern - 79, Volta - 71, Central - 52, Greater Accra - 82, Brong Ahafo - 71, Eastern - 82, and Upper East - 38. In the 1996 elections, out of a total of 711 parliamentary candidates who contested 300 representing 42 per cent failed to obtain the 12.5 percent of the valid votes cast.

All the 199 candidates fielded by the NDC had more than the 12.5, while of the NPP's 168 candidates, 26 had less that the 12.5 percent. The rest are PCP (67 out of 100 candidates), PNC (103 out of 120), EGLE (three out of four), DPP (four out of five), Independent (30 out of 48). All the 66 candidates fielded by the NCP and the only one by the GCPP failed to obtain the 12.5 per cent of the valid votes cast in 1996.