The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Jean Mensa, has called on Ghanaians to exercise patience while the Commission implements an elaborate process to declare credible results that will reflect the will of the people.

“I would like to ask that citizens exercise patience. It's just been 23 hours since the close of polls. The process is elaborate, it is inclusive, it involves the political parties and observers at every step and the whole idea is to ensure that what comes up at the end of the day is acceptable to all stakeholders" she explained.

Mrs Mensa made the call at the 8th in a series of press conferences to update the public on the 2024 general elections at the National Collation Centre in Accra on Sunday, December 8,2024. 

The press conference was attended by both International and local observers including the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers(CODEO).

She attributed the delays in releasing the results at some of the Collation Centres at the Constituency and Regional levels to “the besieging of our centres by some supporters of the political parties.”

Anxiety, excitement

The EC Chairperson indicated that “in anxiety and in excitement some supporters of political parties have besieged our collation offices making it difficult in some cases for our officers to carry out their functions.”

She said the EC has spoken directly with leadership of the various political parties to recall their respective supporters adding that “we believe that when this is done, our staff should have an unhindered access and the free space to collate the results.”

Robust system,elaborate

The EC Chairperson stated that “as you may be aware the Commission has put in place a robust mechanism to receive the results from the Regional Collation Centre. By convention we have been able to declare results within 72 hours after the close of polls. The Commission however broke that record in 2020 and was able to declare the results in 48 hours.”

Explaining the various elaborate processes before declaration of the results, Mrs Mensa stated that the processes involve political party agents at every step of the way. 

Additionally she explained that it involves the observers, the media and citizens saying the process emanates from the pink sheets.

She stated that it is important to note that the pink sheets form the basis of the results that are announced whether it is at the constituency level for parliamentary candidates or at the national level for presidential candidates. 

She stressed that “it starts and emanates from the pink sheets at the polling station.”

She further revealed that once the results are counted at the polling station and parties are satisfied with the count of the ballot papers they then go on to fill out the pink sheets after which party agents sign on to these pink sheets and are provided with copies. 

“As you may be aware a copy of those pink sheets are posted at every polling station across the country. From there the pink sheets are sent to the constituency collation centre where you have the agents of the parties as well and right at the collation centre no counting is done” Mrs Mensa added.

“It is done in the presence of the party agents,observers and media partners and once parties are satisfied they go on to sign the collation forms provided at the constituency collation centre. They are also given copies of these and a copy is also posted at the constituency collation centre” she stated.

From the constituency collation centre, Mrs Mensa further stated that the results travel to the region where party agents are, but the results from the constituency level are also collated at the regional level. 

“Once parties are satisfied with the regional results collation forms, summary forms are built and the parties sign on to these and they are given copies of these forms. It is at this level that the results are then faxed to the head office at the national collation centre” she indicated.

She further explained that the results come through fax and it is done in the full glare of the party agents who receive the fax and they review it against what they may have received from their respective parties. 

“If they are happy and it conforms to what they have received they then endorse it. After endorsement the results are projected as provisional results which are brought to the Commission for scrutiny and as the returning officer for the presidential elections I go on to sign this” she pointed out.

The EC Chairperson said when all the processes have been exhausted, at the end of the day what comes up is acceptable by all the candidates and their supporters and the citizens as well. 

“This is the elaborate process we have and we thought that this afternoon it was important to allay the fears and the anxieties of citizens. The Commission is going to be intense and will uphold the will of the people that has been expressed at the polls and that will is what has been captured on the pink sheets” she observed.

First results 

She used the occasion to announce the first results coming from the Ahafo Region and stated that more results will trickle in.

“As we speak we have had results coming from Ahafo Region and we are expecting more results coming in the next few hours. We are trusting and we believe that within 72 hours and this has been the norm, we should be able to declare the results of the presidential election” she said.

Assurance

The EC Chairperson assured the public that the Commission will ensure transparency, accountability, responsiveness and inclusiveness in collating and declaring the results.