EC Lacks Capacity To Declare Election Results Within 24 hours — NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the Electoral Commission (EC) lacks the capacity to declare the presidential results of the December 7 elections within 24 hours.

The party believes that such an action will produce unrealistic results.

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa had promised to announce presidential results 24 hours after polls close.

Speaking at an interaction with the Council of State on Friday, November 20, 2020, Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa said the Commission had introduced some measures which will facilitate the declaration of election results within 24 hours.

“We are promoting some efficiency into the system. We have worked with our numbers, and we have a duration within which the results should be transmitted. We are expecting that by the next day, we should be able to declare the results. We do not intend to go beyond 24 hours. And we are confident that God being our helper, because of the efficiency we have introduced into the processes, we should be able to declare results within 24 hours.”

But addressing the media on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, the NDC’s Director of Elections, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah noted that the promise could create unnecessary tension.

He insisted that the Returning Officer for the presidential election, Jean Mensa, must certify results from the 275 constituencies before announcing the winner of the polls.

“After the close of polls, the ballots are sorted and counted at every polling station and then signed by both the party agents and the Presiding Officer. When that is done, the results of the polling stations are now sent to the constituency collation centre for the collation of same in the constituency by the constituency’s Returning Officer. Before the Returning Officer can declare the results, the officer must see all the individual results from all the polling stations.”

“Therefore, before the Electoral Commissioner who is the Returning Officer for the presidential elections declares the results, she must have received all the results from all the 275 constituencies, not the 16 regions and certify that what she has is truly what happened with the signatures of all the political party agents. That is what happens and it is the proper time tested system over the years. So one does not just wake up and say that we will announce just any results in 24 hours just to set a record,” Afriyie Ankrah said.

---citinewsroom