It's impossible for the EC to rig elections - Koku Anyidoho

The former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Koku Anyidoho, has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to maintain its focus on holding successful 2024 elections.

In a discussion with the US-based Ghanaian radio station Sky 102.1FM, Koku Anyidoho noted that the EC must not be swayed by recent criticism from some political actors.

He explained that the EC, as a state institution, has the responsibility of executing its core duties fairly and firmly and that it should not allow political parties to dictate to it.

Koku Anyidoho downplayed suggestions of the EC manipulating the elections for one political party, noting that pulling off such a scheme is impossible.

"The EC is trying its best to show that it is competent, fair and firm. There is a trend of parties in opposition accusing the EC of bias and parties in government supporting the EC, so what the EC has to do is to keep its focus and not be swayed by these things.

"It is difficult for any political party to influence the EC. The system we have in the country makes it difficult for the EC to rig an election. The results are being declared at the polling station, so the EC in Accra cannot change figures. It is impossible," he said.

Koku's comments come on the back of criticism of the EC by the NDC following a directive by the EC for party agents not to be present at centers for the vote transfer exercise.

John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the NDC, accused the EC of looking to rig the elections for the NPP.

"I challenge the EC leadership to live up to its expected mandate and stop working in the interest of the ruling party," he posted on Facebook on June 3, 2024.

The NDC flagbearer explained, "The Electoral Commission's decision not to allow agents of political parties to observe the ongoing voter transfer exercise points to only one reason—the EC's avowed determination to aid the ruling NPP in stealing the outcome of the 2024 elections. But as I have continued to repeat, and did this past weekend in Tongo, this collusion between the EC and the NPP will not work. They will fail!

"I am not surprised that the NPP and the EC quickly reversed a collective decision taken at an IPAC meeting last week to have political party agents present at the district offices for the transfer exercise.

"The NPP knows and internally admits that it will lose the 2024 presidential elections. We also know that, as a last resort, it seeks to deploy gerrymandering during this voter transfer period to improve its chances in the parliamentary elections in the erroneous belief that it may rely on that to affect its presidential votes. Again, they will fail because that strategy will not work," he asserted.

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The EC subsequently reversed its decision and allowed political parties to monitor the exercise.



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