GJA and EC to release guidelines on releasing election results

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association Mrs Gifty Affenyi- Dadzie says her organisation and the Electoral Commission are to fashion out guidelines for the media in the conduct of releasing election results in the next month's elections.

According to Mrs. Afenyi- Dadzie, this is to make the media avoid the pitfalls, tension and chaos that are usually associated with dissemination and use of wrong information.


Under the proposal, the press centre would be one of the main sources of election results released by the EC. Speaking at the Speakers' Breakfast Forum, the GJA President said the outcome of the election is very important and only accurate results should be released to the public.


Meanwhile, members of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) have been advised against assuming the role of peacemakers at polling stations. Dr. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, Associate Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, who gave the advice, stated that the observer's role is to ensure that the electoral process goes on smoothly.


Addressing 100 members of the CODEO drawn from various civil organisations and non-governmental organisations in the Tema Municipality at a day's workshop on "The Election Procedure" at Tema, Dr. Agyeman-Duah explained that the presence of local observers provides a sense of confidence to the public.

They should therefore not act as policemen since they are there to check irregularities such as double voting, fraud and rigging. But where a situation is beyond their control, it should quickly be referred to officials of the Electoral Commission (EC).


Dr. Agyeman-Duah said that, in order to be sure of a successful election, all observers should be present at the polling stations as early as 6.30 a.m. He cautioned against the wearing of party T-shirts and any material that could identify them with any political party.


Dr Agyeman-Duah impressed on observers to carry food along with them and exercise patience in the face of provocation because if they leave the station in anger, people with fraudulent intentions could take advantage of their absence to rig the election.


He admitted that the 5,500 members of the CODEO cannot cover the whole country but he expressed the hope that other observers yet to be formed by the Christian Council of Ghana and the Catholic Secretariat would help achieve the purpose.