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Monday, January 5, 2009

CODEO charges EC


…to conduct fresh polls in Tain…whilst NPP hit against Joy FM

By Charles Takyi-Boadu Posted: The Chronicle

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The events which characterised the December 28 Presidential run-off leading to the prevention of the people of Tain constituency from voting, has compelled the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) to send a clarion call to the Electoral Commission (EC).
To ensure that all Ghanaians are able to exercise their right to vote and for the results of the Presidential elections to reflect the will of the people, it has emphasized the need for the EC to “immediately conduct elections at all the polling stations in the Tain constituency, in Brong Ahafo, where voting did not take place on 28 December”.
This, it said, must occur before the EC officially announces the results, since according to the group, the country as a whole is one constituency for the Presidential election.
This was contained in a release signed by Professor Miranda Greenstreet and Justice VCRAC Crabbe, Joint Chairpersons for and on behalf of CODEOs Advisory Board.
In effect, they have asked that the EC “must swiftly and decisively resolve the concerns raised by political contestants concerning the conduct of the presidential runoff election. Any recounts or re-collations should be conducted without delay”.
CODEO has thus called on the Electoral Commission to do its best to issue polling station results along with the overall results to ensure that the official results of this highly competitive election are accepted by all parties, their supporters as well as the general public.
“While the Electoral Commission is not required to take such a step, the release of polling station results would significantly reduce post election tensions while reinforcing confidence in the Electoral Commission’s impartiality”, it emphasised.
It has further called on Ghanaians, including leaders of political parties and their supporters, to continue to place confidence in the Electoral Commission.
That notwithstanding, CODEO has encouraged the two Presidential Candidates and their respective political parties to accept the official results, stressing “we encourage the victors to be magnanimous.
The President-elect, when sworn in will be president of all Ghanaians during the coming four years and must therefore move quickly beyond the partisan politics of the electoral cycle to earn the support of all Ghanaians”.
CODEO observers reported a higher number of problems and lapses in the December 28 run-off election than the general elections of December 7. It attributed this to the extremely high-stake nature of the Presidential run-off election in which only one party could win; and the short time available for the Electoral Commission to organize the second round.
This was after CODEO analysed information from the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) exercise gathered by its Rapid Response Observers (RROs). Data from its representative random sample of more than 1,000 polling stations from 229 constituencies, indicated that the election results are extremely close, and the results are likely to be decided by less than a percentage point.
As with the Presidential and general elections of December 7, CODEO observers said they reported many lapses in the voting process in the presidential run-off election of December 28, including setting up and opening of polling stations, voting and vote counting.
However, the problems reported by CODEO observers do not fundamentally undermine the integrity of the overall process. In a related development, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has sternly criticised Accra-based radio station -Joy FM, for having called the elections in favour of the NDCs Presidential Candidate, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, at a time when the election was too close to call.
Minutes after the radio station put the information in public domain and on its website, the NPPs Campaign Manager, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey issued a statement condemning the act. “The process by which Joy FM arrived at the said projection is highly speculative and premature, especially in the face of the challenges to both the process and many of its outcomes”, he emphasised.
Given the closeness of the elections and the variation of votes, between regions and from the first to second round, Jake noted that it could be disruptive of the country’s democratic process for Joy Fm to project a winner.
“While Joy concedes that there are still 7 constituencies with 458,813 votes still outstanding, it believes that the NPP Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, cannot obtain the votes he needs from the remaining constituencies to win the Presidency. The Electoral Commission itself has certified far fewer constituencies than Joy and most of those constituencies announced by Joy have not been certified by the appropriate authority.”
In spite of this, he stressed that the contest in a number of regions, particularly the Volta region, have been marred by significant irregularities, including the barring of many NPP agents from polling stations, to monitor and thus be able to certify the results.
“Indeed, the NPP has already sent a letter of protest to the Electoral Commission that raises significant concerns regarding the treatment of our agents in the Volta Region and our intent to challenge the inclusion of the results from those Volta region constituents where the process was severely flawed”, he noted.
Instead of reporting on the serious violations and irregularities that characterised the elections, the NPP noted that the radio station chose to indulge in highly speculative effort to declare a winner, stressing “they could have reported on the numerous assaults on our agents, including Dr. Ohene, the Psychiatrist who is struggling for his life. They could have reported on the many stories of the brave young men and women who were chased from polling stations and prevented from monitoring the elections.”
While the NPP is confident of victory, Jake noted that it has chosen to wait for the Electoral Commission to do its work, due partly to the inflamed passion and the closeness of the elections.
“Our caution is also reinforced by the undertaking that all the parties made to the Electoral Commission to wait for it to announce the outcome of the elections.
Our nation is already on edge” Jake affirmed.
He thus called on all Ghanaians, political parties, politicians and the media to refrain from irresponsibly inflaming passions, and asked the good lord to guide Ghana through these challenging times.