CODEO calls on EC to update website with complete 2016 presidential election results
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to as a matter of necessity update its website with the complete presidential election results as well as detailed polling station results as it promised to undertake as part of the implementation of the electoral reforms.
CODEO in its Post-Election Observation statement observed that as at January 31, 2017, more than a month after the December 7, 2016 polls the EC is yet to update its website with the full presidential results covering the 275 constituencies.
The polling station results of all the 28,992 polling stations have also not been published.
The statement also noted that the post-election political environment in some observed constituencies has generally been peaceful.
Contrary to early post-election reports of disturbances reported in the media, CODEO Post-election Observers report of very little incidents of election-related disturbances and threat to peace and security in many of the constituencies observed during the period of observation, it further said.
It also indicated that majority (78 per cent) of the election results declared at the constituency level by the EC were generally-accepted by the political parties and their supporters.
Adding that, post-election disputes over the conduct and outcome of the December 7, 2016 polls in the constituencies are generally few. Majority (59 per cent) of the reports from the CODEO post-election observers suggest that there was no election petition filed at the courts or at the EC in the constituencies.
Only 20 per cent of observers said they heard or observed candidates filing an election petition at the courts or at the EC, it further said.
CODEO, however, says it condemns in no uncertain terms the reported unlawful, unrestrained actions of alleged NPP political party supporters in vandalizing, intimidating and seizing public property in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 elections.
Their actions, CODEO says, have the potential to mar the peaceful transition for which Ghana has been praised.
It assured the public that it will continue to observe the post-election environment and will duly share its findings with the public when necessary, adding that, it will organize post-election review workshops to draw lessons from the 2016 elections to inform the conduct of improved elections in the future.
By Pamela Ofori-Boateng