Video coverage of Ghanaian elections recommended

Nana Fosu-Blankson, an Independent Parliamentary candidate for Takoradi in the western region of Ghana in the 1996 election, on Tuesday recommended video coverage of the December 7 elections.

He said this should be used as a means of monitoring the polling, counting of votes and declaration of results, while the cassettes could be used as evidence in the event of a dispute. A release issued in Takoradi by Nana Fosu-Blankson said these measures would help to uncover any malpractice by either voters or election officials.

To ensure transparency in the coverage, Nana Fosu-Blankson recommended that all cassettes and cameramen contracted to do the coverage should be registered with the Electoral Commission (EC) as it was done during the photo ID card exercise.

He also suggested to the EC to use carbonated declaration forms for entries of votes cast for candidates. This, he explained, would reduce time spent by election officials in re-writing on all the result sheets provided at polling stations. He said election officials should be made to write results declared, both in figures and words in order to avoid any alteration.