2020 Elections: It will be remarkable for Electoral Commission to announce results in 24-hours - CDD

Baffour Agyemang Duah, the co-founder of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) says, it will be a remarkable achievement for the Electoral Commission to declare the results of the December elections within twenty-four hours.

The Electoral Commission has promised the country that twenty-four hours after closure of polls, it will announce the winners and losers of the election.

Speaking during a meeting with the Council of State on Friday, November 20, 2020, the Chairperson of the EC said that the commission has put measures in place to ensure efficient delivery in the upcoming elections.

She promised that barring any unforeseen hitch, aspirants and political parties will know their smoothness level within 24 hours.

“We are promoting some efficiency into the system. We have worked with our numbers, and we have a duration within which the results should be transmitted. We are expecting that by the next day, we should be able to declare the results. We do not intend to go beyond 24 hours. And we are confident that God being our helper, because of the efficiency we have introduced into the processes, we should be able to declare results within 24 hours.”

Speaking in a Citi FM interview, Agyemang Duah said that Ghanaians should give the EC a chance to prove itself.

He said that before anyone chides the EC for the promise, that person must ensure that he or she is well abreast with systems developed by the EC for the elections.

“Frankly, if they are able to fulfil that, it will be fantastic for all of us because in the last election, when results were held up for prolonged periods, anxieties went up and all kinds of circulations begun to fly around so if it is possible for the EC to do that then I think the better for all of us.”

“I think it is important for anyone who disagrees with that announcement to first find out what the EC has in place. If the EC is saying that they are going to do that then my expectation is that they may have put in place all the necessary mechanisms to ensure that results are transmitted timely”.

Mr. Duah also said: “so many of us have doubted the capacity of this current EC in so many ways from the registration to now, but they proved us wrong. I think if they have put in place systems to make this possible that will be historic and good for all of us. If they say they can do it let’s give them a chance.”

The NDC is among some persons and institutions that have doubted the EC’s capacity to deliver on the said date.