Election2000: Political parties permitted to compile results

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Thursday said political parties are allowed to compile their own election results, according to the election laws.

"If the various political parties have not been doing this, then it is their lack of responsibility and inefficiency," he said. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Dr Afari-Gyan said although the parties can compile their own results, "no party has the mandate to declare the results."

He said the commission provides all party agents at polling centres with copies of the Declaration of Results form. The parties are supposed to use these forms in tallying their own results.

Dr Afari-Gyan said parties must study the constitutional provision on elections and the public election regulations before making certain statements, "as if they are proposing something new."

Explaining the procedure, Dr Afari-Gyan said immediately after the close of the polls, the presiding officer shall, in the presence of the candidates or their representative and the counting agents, open all ballot boxes. The presiding officer will record the total number of votes cast in favour of each candidate.

The party agents and presiding officers sign the form. The presiding officer also indicates the date and time the counting ended and gives a copy to the agents. He then announces the results to the public.

"As soon as practicable after the announcement of results, the presiding officer shall in the presence of counting agents make up into packets the contents of each ballot box in use at the station," Dr Afari-Gyan said.

"The unused and spoilt ballot papers placed together, tendered ballot papers and the marked copies of the register and counterfoils of the used ballot are sealed and taken to the returning officer at the constituency centre."

He said, "the packets shall be accompanied by a statement made by the presiding officer showing the number of ballot papers entrusted to him and account for used, unused, spoilt and tendered ballot papers."

Results of all polling centres within a constituency are collated at the constituency centres where the contesting candidates are represented by counting agents.

He said each counting agent at the constituency centre is given a copy of the collated results. The returning officer announces the winners of the presidential and parliamentary in the constituency.

He said the parties should base their compilations on the results declared on the EC's Declaration form to avoid creating confusion. The presidential results from each constituency are communicated to the EC Headquarters where they are collated in the presence of party executives. The commission announces the results as they are received from the constituencies.

Dr Afari-Gyan said all these measures are designed to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. Experience in 1996, however, shows that some party agents refused to sign the Declaration of Results forms when they realised their candidates had lost. He said should that happen again the commission will go ahead and announce the results.

He, therefore, reiterated the call on political parties to engage responsible agents. "The commission is committed to conduct free, fair and transparent elections," Dr Afari-Gyan said. "The political parties, media, governmental and non-governmental organisations who have a contribution to make must also ensure that they play their roles effectively."

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) recently announced its intention to compile its own election results at every polling station to crosscheck the official results declared by the EC.

"We have been cheated twice in 1992 and 1996 by the NDC through rigging because we put our trust in the EC to conduct free and fair elections," Mr. Samuel A. Odoi-Sykes, NPP National Chairman, said in Accra. He said the opposition political parties in Senegal and Yugoslavia compiled their own election results, "thereby preventing the EC and the Supreme Court from stealing their victory."