The final results released by the Electoral Commission (EC) after correcting errors detected in the original declaration still fall within the confidence range of CODEO’s parallel vote tabulation (PVT) estimates, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has said.
A statement from CODEO said it has absolute confidence in its PVT estimates and reaffirmed the results already published by the Electoral Commission (EC).
CODEO assured the public that the results declared by the EC closely match the Coalition’s PVT estimates.
“CODEO wishes to emphasise that the post-declaration errors detected and corrected by the Electoral Commission (EC) do not in any way affect the Coalition’s Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) estimates as shared on Thursday, 10 December 2020,” the statement said.
CODEO said it finds computational errors on the part of the Electoral Commission (EC) very unfortunate, “as they create room for doubt about the integrity of the presidential election results declared by the Commission on 9 December 2020 and other disputed parliamentary results”.
The Coalition believes that, given what is at stake, “The EC must go beyond passive publication of a press release to hold a public event to address the underlying issues with respect to the computational errors identified, so as to allay any lingering concerns and doubts.”
CODEO said the EC must “ensure that source documents signed by the political parties, which support the instrument of declaration, are consistent with the tally sheet for the collation of the national results for the presidential candidates”.
The PVT is based on polling station data submitted by CODEO-appointed stationary polling station observers, who witnessed the counting and declaration of those results, having observed the processes of voting during the course of the day.
The PVT is an advanced and scientific observation technique that combines well-established statistical principles and information and communications technology to observe elections.
It involves deploying trained, accredited observers to a nationally representative random sample of polling stations.
On election day, CODEO deployed 4,000 trained stationary observers to 4,000 randomly selected, nationally representative sample polling stations across the 275 constituencies in Ghana
Out of the 4,000, 1,502 observers were designated as PVT observers and were stationed at 1,502 polling stations selected for the specific exercise.
The release of CODEO’s 2020 PVT estimates has generated public interest and reaction, particularly after a press release on 10 December 2020 in which the Electoral Commission corrected certain errors in its previously announced official declaration.
In the 10 December announcement, the EC stated: “The chairperson of the Electoral Commission inadvertently used 13,433,573 as the total valid votes cast. The total valid votes cast is 13,119,460.”
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