EC organized a free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2016 - CODEO

The Coalition of Domestic Election observers (CODEO) has commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for organizing a free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2016.

CODEO in a communique which was jointly signed by Professor Miranda Greenstreet (Co-Chair) Justice VCRAC Crabbe (Co-Chair) said: ‘’ The Electoral Commission (EC) successfully delivered free, fair and peaceful elections, particularly in the management of the polling process on Election Day’’

The communique which was issued by participants at CODEO Stakeholder Review Workshop On Ghana’s 2016 Presidential and General Elections added: ‘’there was improvement in the media’s ability to access information on election issues from the EC, political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders in a timely manner; media creation of platforms for issue-based campaigning and policy discourse was improved; and collaboration amongst key election stakeholders and the media was also much improved..’’

According to them, ‘’there was improvement in the level of physical accessibility enjoyed by persons with disability (PWDs) in the electoral processes; voter education materials were made in Braille and sign language interpreters were used at main campaign rallies of the two big political parties.’’

The communique further commended the activation of the National Security Task which they stated helped minimize election related violence. It also commended the efforts of the Judiciary and their role in managing electoral related disputes.

‘’The early activation of the National Election Security Task Force (NESTF) infrastructure and the strategic deployment of police to hotspots helped to mitigate the incidence of violence on Election Day.

The proactive intervention of the Judiciary in the management of election related cases played a commendable role in ensuring the success of the 2016 elections.

Close collaboration amongst domestic election observation groups contributed to improved citizen observation of the electoral process.’’