16 CSOs advise EC on how to solve gaps and errors encountered during 2020 polls

Sixteen Civil Society Organisations in Ghana have issued a joint statement on pertinent issues that have come up following the Electoral Commission’s declaration of the 2020 election results.

The CSOs which include the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), IMANI Africa, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), and others say for a lasting solution to some of the errors that have come up during the election, the EC must convene a meeting of key stakeholders for a discussion.

The CSOs proposed that “key stakeholders to the elections, should subsequently be convened by the EC to brainstorm and find permanent solutions to the gaps and errors that have emerged during these elections and to update existing electoral laws, policies and procedures with agreed recommendations such that we prevent a future re-occurrence of such challenges.”

This recommendation by the CSOs, which is the last of a five-point statement comes on the back of numerous mathematical errors committed by the EC in public statements issued about the 2020 presidential and parliamentary results.

The Commission has been heavily criticised after admitting to errors in the presidential results.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is contesting the election results declared by the EC and sees the errors as a manifestation that the Commission stole the recently held polls for the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The 16 CSOs also noted that disagreements with the outcome of the election results should be resolved using the laid down procedures outlined by law and backed with evidence.

The CSOs said they “condemn all acts of violence and recommend that the Security Services immediately launch investigations into all reported crimes during the electoral process and in particular prosecute perpetrators involved in the recorded pockets of violence which have led to various injuries and deaths.”

Read the full statement below.