Decision to declare results in 24 hours not cast in stone, says EC
The Electoral Commission (EC) says the 7 December polls will be unique as it seeks to declare the results a day after the close of polls
The Electoral Commission says its earlier promise of declaring the 7 December election results in 24 hours after the close of polls is not cast in stone.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday (6 December), Jean Mensa, chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) said “…we are doing this with one thing in mind, that is, if you have the results why keep it and keep the nation in suspends. It’s just efficiency being built into the system”
She said: “…but it is not cast in stone and therefore if for one reason or the other we are not able to achieve [ I don’t think it will happen] we are not falling foul of the law. But this is the intention.”
The EC, earlier announced it has put in place measures to declare the results of the 7 December presidential and parliamentary elections 24 hours at the close of polls.
The EC said it wants the eighth election under the Fourth Republic to be extraordinary, compared to previous ones.
“All things being equal, by the next day before we go to bed, we would have declared the results,” the Director of Electoral Services, Dr Serebour Quarcoo, stated at a national dialogue on peaceful election in Accra.
Dr Quarcoo was quite optimistic of achieving such feat because “almost all materials for this year’s elections have been dispatched to the regions more than two weeks to the polls.”
He added: “Our plan is that we want to declare results on the 8 December, that’s why I said that this year’s election is going to be the best because we are putting in place all the planning that it needs and we are getting all the support that we need.
“All the logistics have been put in place, all the regions and districts have been asked to submit what they will need to make our dream of declaring the results the next day a reality,” he said.
But Jean Mensa says the EC will not be falling foul of the law if it fails to achieve this promise.
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