The Electoral Commission(EC) has appealed to the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President-Elect,John Mahama, and the National Election Security Task Force, to intervene to ensure that the Commission is provided with the necessary security and protection to carry out its mandate.
The EC further urged the security taskforce to put in place arrangements to ensure that its staff and processes are well protected and secured in a way that will ensure that the true outcomes of the processes reflect the will of the people as expressed on the pink sheets.
The Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa made the appeal at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, December 19,2024 to update the media on collation processes and outstanding results to be collated in some constituencies.
Disruption
She expressed concern that “in spite of police presence at our regional offices, the collation process was once again disrupted and taken over by political party leaders and supporters, and results declared for both constituencies without due process being followed.”
She explained that in the case of Okaikwei Central, a winner was declared without collating results from 31 polling stations. In the case of the Ablekuma North constituency, she said a winner was declared without collating results from 62 polling stations. This Mrs Mensa stated is “unacceptable.”
“It is important to note that the declarations made by our staff were made under threat and the Commission considers this as illegal. Those declarations, as well as others that have gone on in other constituencies, will not be upheld by the Commission” she pointed out.
Outstanding constituencies
The EC Chairperson said following engagement with the police, it was agreed that the Tesano Police Depot would be used as the collation centre for all outstanding collations including Ablekuma North, Okaikwei Central, Tema Central, Dome Kwabenya, Nsawam Adoagyiri, Akwatia, Fanteakwa North, Suhum, Techiman South, Obuasi East, Ahafo Ano North and Ahafo Ano South West.
“As a Commission, our mandate is not to make anybody a President or a Member of Parliament. Our mandate, as mentioned earlier, is simply to conduct credible, transparent and fair processes that uphold the choice of voters”she stated.
