The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) and Civic Initiative Forum (CFI) will engage 1,100 electoral agents to observe and monitor the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n
It will\u00a0also establish 10 Civil Society Elections Situation Rooms (CESR) in all the regions with a national coordinating centre in Accra to disseminate credible information on the polls to the public.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”MfIDJYQsX9ofMNegok5p0SMvL9xADseH”]Dr Kwesi Jonah, a Senior Research Fellow of IDEG, announced this at an IDEG \u201cCivil Society Elections Situation Room Training Workshop\u201d for Regional Situation room Working Groups in Takoradi.<\/p>\n
The Workshop, organised by IDEG with support from Mondelez, was to train and equip the participants with the knowledge and other necessary tools required for the effective operations in the elections.<\/p>\n
He said the CESRs, which were being operated in conjunction with the Police and the Electoral Commission, would focus on data regarding the voting processes, voter turnouts, results from polling stations and collation centres.<\/p>\n
It would also cover other incidents and events that may crop up at the various polling centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an operational room equipped with cameras, phones, television sets and other gadgets to monitor and gather information as events roll out before, during and after the December general elections,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Dr Jonah, who took the participants through the “Political and Security content of the Elections, said though Ghana was doing well in its democratic dispensation, there were still indications that the elections could be violent if the necessary measures were not put in place to curb it.<\/p>\n
He said the current hate speech and intemperate language used on radio and television stations as well as political party rallies could spark violence, stressing that: \u201cWhat is happening on our air waves is not talking about us going to vote but as if we are preparing for a war and this should be a source of concern for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Jonah also mentioned the emergence of political vigilante groups, increase in the number of flash points, importation of small arms, poor social and economic conditions, the lack of political dialogue among political parties, and the issue of the winner\u2013takes-all, as indicators that could all start violent acts.<\/p>\n
He, in this regard, called for continuous prayers for the nation and asked all to \u201cshine their eyes\u201d and look out for these disturbing indicators.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: GNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) and Civic Initiative Forum (CFI) will engage 1,100 electoral agents to observe and monitor the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections. It will\u00a0also establish 10 Civil Society Elections Situation Rooms (CESR) in all the regions with a national coordinating centre in Accra to disseminate credible information on the polls to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":142500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2647,2648,5],"tags":[12942,2356,3,1297],"yoast_head":"\n