The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure the publication of results from all polling stations before announcing the final outcomes of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
In recent years, Ghana’s presidential elections have faced legal challenges in the Supreme Court, often stemming from alleged irregularities at polling stations.
The Electoral Commission has also faced criticism for declaring the 2020 election results twice due to discrepancies in tallying.
To avoid similar issues, which IDEG considers a threat to the nation’s democratic stability, the institute suggests that all polling station results be made available on the EC’s website.
A Senior Research Fellow at IDEG, Kwesi Jonah, noted that while Ghana is recognized as the sixth most stable democracy in Africa, the EC must adopt these measures to further enhance the country’s democratic standing.
“We are aware of certain weaknesses and lapses in our democracy, some of which pertain to the electoral process,” Jonah said. “The European Union, which has consistently observed elections in Ghana since 2012, has made several recommendations to help us improve our electoral system and advance our democracy.”
“One key recommendation is the official publication of results from each polling station on the Electoral Commission’s website,” he added.
Jonah emphasized that this approach would prevent situations where political parties claim they do not have access to results or allege election rigging.
“No serious political party can claim to lack the results from each polling station, as our electoral system ensures that at every polling station, there are agents representing both the presidential and parliamentary candidates,” he said.
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