The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) says it is skeptical about the Electoral Commission’s promise to declare results of the 2020 polls within 24 hours.
The Electoral Commission at an interaction with the Council of State on Friday, November 20, 2020, said it will declare the results a day after closure of the polls December 7 general elections.
But the National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Kofi Arhin in an interview on Eyewitness News said it does not see how feasible this will be, especially with the introduction of Regional Coalition Centres.
“I was excited when I heard it, but what makes me skeptical is the fact that they have introduced the regional coalition centres, meaning the results will go through the regions. But my problem is how they are going to pull votes from the hinterlands, are they going to send helicopters to draw the votes cast from there?”
“If they have put measures in place to cover that, all the better. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Early results will be good for the country,” he added.
We’ll announce election results 24 hours after closure of polls – EC
The Electoral Commission has assured that it will announce election results 24 hours after polls close.
Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa said they have introduced some measures which will facilitate the declaration of election results within 24 hours.
“We are promoting some efficiency into the system. We have worked with our numbers and we have a duration within which the results should be transmitted.”
“We are expecting that by the next day, we should be able to declare the results. We do not intend to go beyond 24 hours. And we are confident that God is our helper, because of the efficiency we have introduced into the processes, we should be able to declare results within 24 hours.”
Giving details on measures taken by the EC to ensure that results are collated on time, Ms. Mensa said her outfit had allotted specific time frames for both polling stations and collation centres to sort the results.
