EC denies engaging Israeli company to transmit results

The Electoral Commission has denied claims that it had entered into a deal with Israeli company STL at Dzorwulu in the Ayawaso-West Wuogon constituency, to aid in its electronic transmission of results.

Some irate NPP supporters besieged the premises Saturday alleging suspicious movements in and out of the private property by members of the governing NDC party and some officials of the EC.

It emerged in the confusion that the EC had engaged the company to transmit results electronically but the NPP's Sammy Awuku said his party was unaware.

Read below the full statement issued and signed by the EC Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan:

The Commission’s attention has been drawn to allegations that it has engaged the services of a company to do electronic transmission and collation of results on its behalf. We wish to state emphatically that no such engagement has been made, neither is the Commission doing electronic transmission of results.

The Commission wishes to inform the general public that the transmission of results to its Head Office follows a clearly laid down transparent process.

We wish to remind the public that ballots are counted openly at the polling stations and the results are signed by the agents of the parties, who are given copies of the signed results. The signed copies of the polling station results are then sent physically to the constituency collation centres, where collation of results is done in the presence of agents of the parties.

At the end of the collation, the party representatives again sign and receive copies of the constituency results sheets. Copies of the signed declaration of results are sent to the Regional Offices of the Commission, from where they are faxed directly to the Operations Room of the Commission.

The public is informed that currently there are representatives of the parties in the Commission’s operations room who are receiving and checking the results before endorsing them by signing. Indeed, copies of the results are made for them before a copy is sent to the Chairman of the Commission for his signature.

In some instances, party representatives in the operations room have called their agents in the constituencies to cross check the result before signing them.

The procedure for the transmission of election results to the operations room is therefore thoroughly transparent and does not lend itself to manipulation.

The Commission wishes to reiterate that election results are signed and sent by fax and no company has been engaged for any such undertaking.

We wish to assure the nation that we will continue to use the transparent and verifiable approach of transmitting results and further assure that no results can be manipulated.

DR. K. AFARI GYAN CHAIRMAN