Lawyer punches EC on over voting allegation

Lawyer H. Kwasi Prempeh says the failure of the Electoral Commission (EC) to tell Ghanaians how it detected over-voting and how many polling stations and constituencies were involved, raises questions about the intervention it intended to make in the form of reviewing of the results.

"It is disturbing that the headquarters of the Electoral Commission is getting involved in the results,” he said in a Facebook post.

There have often been issues with the appointment of the EC’s Commissioners, especially the Chairperson, by a President whose party or who himself takes part in the voting.

Some political parties have leveled serious allegations of bias and manipulation of the outcome of the results against the heads of the EC. However, their arguments are often defeated by the fact that the commissioners and heads at the headquarters of the Electoral Commission often have no way of influencing the outcome.

This is because, on Election Day, they do not play any significant roles at the polling station and constituencies, and they don’t interfere with the results from the constituencies.

According to lawyer Prempeh, if the head office of the EC is allowed to review results, determine over-voting and other irregularities, and decide on what to do, the process can be undermined, especially if Ghana ever gets corrupt or politically compromised persons at the top

This, he said, undermine our democratic process.

He advised the EC to stick to the decentralised nature of the election process so that those at the top would have very little or no influence on the outcome of Ghana elections.

He stated that if the party agents at the national collation centre have issues with a particular constituency result, they must prove why.

“By the time the results at the constituency collation centres get to the national collation centres, the party agents there should have the certified figures from their constituencies.

“They ought to also have specific concerns, if any, as the reason they should not sign certain results", he added.