Election 2020: 150 strong AU/ECOWAS observer mission arrives in Ghana

With six days to the presidential and parliamentary elections, a joint election observer mission from the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has arrived in the country.

According to Diplomatic Affairs TV, the 150-strong team of observers from the AU and ECOWAS arrived in the country on Sunday, November 29, 2020.

According to the TV channel dedicated to reporting on diplomacy, the arrival of the team comes after a prelection mission led by President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, about two weeks ago.

The Pre-Election Mission had earlier engaged political parties, the Electoral Commission (EC) and other stakeholders on Ghana’s preparedness toward the upcoming election.

Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Ghana, Ambassador Baba Gana Wakil, has said the team comprises short-term, long term and technical teams.

According to Ambassador Wakil, flashpoints and the hotspots will be targeted for deployments of the election observers.

“These are trained observers they have conducted these election observation missions in other countries before coming to Ghana.

"Before Ghana’s elections, you are aware general elections were done in Ivory Coast in Guinea in Burkina Faso now one will be done in Ghana on December 7th and before the need of the year Niger will also have its own election,” Ambassador Wakil said on the first edition of Season Two of Diplomatic Affairs on Pan African television on Saturday, November 28, 2020.

Ghanaians go to the polls on December 7, 2020, to elect a President and Members of Parliament.

Eleven political parties and one independent candidate are billed to contest the upcoming elections but the race will be between incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and John Dramani Mahama of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).