Election 2020: CSOs call on EC to rectify alleged 'electoral anomalies'

Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Ghana have raised concerns over the alleged "electoral irregularities" on part of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) which they believe have marred the 2020 general polls despite going ahead to declare the results on the eve of Wednesday, December 9, 2020.

The CSOs led by Care For Free Elections Ghana ("CARE" Ghana) at an emergency press conference held during the wee hour of Wednesday, December 9, 2020, prior to the declaration of the presidential results revealed to the media they have chanced upon some alleged "electoral malpractices” which indicated inflation of figures for both the NDC and NPP alike within some constituencies particularly the Ashanti, Eastern and Central Region of Ghana.

Mr. David Kumi, the Executive Secretary of “CARE” Ghana who briefed the media alleged there were gross discrepancies in the certified results by the Electoral Commission within most of the constituencies which they wanted to crave the indulgence of the Electoral Commission to rectify in the interest of peace and transparency.

According to him, such figures do not reflect the actual results that were collated and declared at the various polling stations just after the elections but were later inflated by the EC on behalf of both the NDC and the NPP.

While juxtaposing between the certified results of the Electoral Commission vis-à-vis the alleged bloated results from a document he reads from, he said: “Now when you take the Adansi Asokwa for instance, the Electoral Commission has increased the results in that particular constituency for both the NPP and the for NDC. When you check that of the NPP, it has been increased by 1,807 while the NDC’s own has been increased by 668”.

The actual figures he claimed were altered by the EC which is not a true reflection of the results declared at the polling stations within the similar constituencies vividly highlighted on the said document showed 19519 for the NPP while NDC polled 10560.

Reflecting on the figures for the Afigya Kwabre North Constituency in Ashanti Region also as an example, Mr. Addo again hinted that the figures were inflated by the EC which simply do not tally considering the number of votes accumulated by both the NDC and the NPP in the presidential race declared at the various polling stations.

“Now if you check Afigya Kwabre North, you’ll realize that again, the electoral commission has increased the number by 1,378 for the NPP and for the NDC, it has been increased by 546”, David alluded to.

The “CARE” Ghana boss averred that ample time is not his side to pull out all the anomalies since the press conference is rather a brief one to address urgent issues and assured another press conference would soon be conducted by his outfit to deal with the entire issues at hand.

He, therefore, called on the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to urgently step in and ensure those anomalies are rectified to ensure peace prevails.

The CSOs committed to issues of free, fair, credible, and transparent elections in Ghana equally went further to condemned outrightly some alleged pockets of electoral violence recorded on December 7 in some parts of the country which pointed out to the use of brute force by the military and other security officers deployed to some polling stations which resulted into ‘brutalities’ and ‘killings’ of some civilians who are simply exercising their civic rights.