Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2017 Chatham House Prize, to be awarded by the Royal Institute of International Affairs of the U.K.
According to the Director of Chatham House, Dr. Robin Niblett CMG, the EC boss was nominated by the award committee for her role in “ensuring a peaceful and transparent electoral process in Ghana in December 2016, further consolidating Ghana’s 24-year long democratic journey”.
“The recent election consolidated Ghana’s 24-year long democratic trajectory and was norm setting for Africa, the Commonwealth and beyond; your tireless efforts throughout 2016 were central to this success,” Chatham House said.
Other dignitaries in contention for the award are Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia and Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO.
The Chatham House Prize is awarded to the person, persons or organization deemed to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.
Mrs. Osei is the first female to serve as head of Ghana’s Electoral Commission since independence. She successfully supervised the 2016 elections which saw the smooth transfer of power from one party to another in the country.
Past recipients of the Chatham House Prize includes former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor and former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano.
Also, the former President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Democracy Campaigner and Leader of the National League for Democracy have also been honoured with an award from Chatham.
Other recipients are former US Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential candidate in last November’s US elections, Mrs. Hillary Clinton; and former US Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry.
The final winner of the award will be announced at the end of April, 2017.