The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has said that it is wrong for any political party to declare election results because that is the preserve of the Electoral Commission.
“The important thing is that no party has to announce any results apart from the Electoral Commission. You can collate, yes. You want to compare that at the end of the day to what the Electoral Commission brings up, but you want to do it on the quiet,” National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Arhin explained.
CODEO argues that even though there is nothing wrong with political parties independently collating election results, they cannot on their own declare results.
[contextly_sidebar id=”WIf5e5NehCScVJsbWUWn8GJC0YhdOPvX”]CODEO’s comments come on the back of media reports to the effect that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was allegedly going to declare results before the EC.
But the party’s Campaign Manager, Peter Mac Manu, later came out to clarify that his party was only planning to collate results alongside the EC.
The Coalition Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has said political parties are well within their right to collate election results as long as they do not make any announcements superseding the authority of the Electoral Commissions (EC).
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Albert Arhin explained that it was no secret that political parties always collated results on their own and that there was nothing wrong with it.
“Collating the results per se is nothing. There is nothing wrong with you collecting the results sheets from your agents at the various polling centres and putting them together, there is nothing wrong with that. After all even at Electoral Commission’s office where the results are collated and announced, you find the political parties there sometimes with their own pink sheets or whatever and they will also be collating.”
Parties should collate results in the quiet
Mr. Arhin stated that parties should make it a point to be discreet in collating their results so as not to overstep the boundaries of the EC.
Mr. Arhin acknowledged the even his outfit collated its own results but “in the case of CODEO, we don’t bring it out until the final results is announced.”
Any attempt to announce results before the EC could lead to confusion according to the CODEO National Coordinator, but that will be avoided if all parties wait on the EC as far as the declaration of results is concerned.
“When the commission has not announced anything, you don’t have to say anything because that may bring some confusion into the system. So you wait, the commission announces its result and then you compare it to what you have.”
–
By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana