ECOWAS Elections C'ttee commends Ghana

Accra, Dec. 9, GNA - The Head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Elections Monitoring Team that monitored Tuesday's election, Retired Sierra Leonean Chief Justice Desmond Fashole-Luke, has commended Ghanaians for the manner in which they went through the elections peacefully.

Speaking to the GNA on Thursday on the Committee's findings on the election, Mr Justice Fashole-Luke said almost every member of the 19-member team agreed that the "election was peaceful, well organised and the electorate as well as the officials conducted themselves in such a manner that is commendable".

"The people of Ghana and the Electoral Commission (EC) are to be congratulated on an outstanding performance. What we saw warrants emulation."

According to the Chairman, the full report on the election was still being compiled to be submitted to the ECOWAS Secretariat. On their operation, he said the team first came to Ghana in October on a fact-finding mission, then in November for a follow-up and finally in December to monitor the election.

On his views on the few reported incidents that occurred during the election, Mr Justice Fashole-Luke said those were normal occurrences that characterized elections the world over.

On whether the ECOWAS Committee had formally been written to by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) about its alleged discrepancies in some of the election results, the Chairman answered in the negative.

He, however, said the team would be in the country until the final results of the election were declared by the EC. He declared ECOWAS' commitment to managing governance and political affairs of its member-states saying: "We are now well strategised to handle our affairs instead of running to the United Nations."