Let us have confidence in the Electoral Commission - Aliu

Accra, June 30, GNA - Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on Monday called on the leadership of political parties in the country to have confidence in the honesty, ability and reputation of the Electoral Commission (EC).

He said this would ensure that results of Election 2008 reflected the aspirations of majority of Ghanaians. The Vice President made the call when launching a book titled - The Countdown to 2008 Elections, written by Mr Ben Ephson, Managing Editor of Daily Dispatch.

"I call on all who profess to adhere to multi-party democracy and by implication, sustainable development in stability to respect and protect the EC's capacity, ability and reputation to deliver a verdict that reflects the true will of the people. "We should vote in the knowledge that at the end of the day, the vote is as it ought to be because the EC is an honest broker that reflects our confidence because we participated in shaping the process," he said.

Alhaji Aliu noted that in 2004, Ghana's electoral system was commended world-wide as having come of age, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, a fifth consecutive free and fair election might be a record and Ghanaians should be proud of once again leading with the political light of Africa.

He said it was time Ghanaians moved their considerable energies from mere political contention for power to economic emancipation. Alhaji Aliu said this could be achieved by accepting that together we had built a solid electoral administrative system that had earned the trust of voters and respect of the international community over the years.

He noted that even though Mr Ephson's electoral predictions had usually been disputed by various political parties and other analysts, they had always been very close to the actual results. "If Mr Ephson's predictions are anything to go by then Election 2008 would be a close one. But I believe that whether the winner is by a margin of exactly 50 per cent plus one or 54 per cent, the rules clearly state that we have a winner," he said.

Alhaji Aliu noted that no matter how close the elections results would be, it was always about the majority of Ghanaians, saying that Ghanaians could not afford to allow themselves to be deflected from the path of sustainable democracy because a contending party refused to accept defeat.

"Elections are about numbers and the party that is able to garner more numbers wins. My greatest prayer is that all contesting parties accept the count - however close - in good faith as a true reflection of the wishes of majority of eligible Ghanaian voters," he said. Mr Ephson said the 236-page book was an improvement on a previous publication in 2004.

He said additional features were the inclusion of maps of all 10 regions with constituencies, over 100 pages of electoral data and statistics and the results of all Presidential and Parliamentary polls in 2004.

Mr Ephson said "elections are won and lost at the polling stations," because research had indicated that actual votes counted at 123 polling stations were more than actual registered voters at those polling stations.

However, he said those anomalies did not favour any particular political party and some of the anomalies were in the two political 'world banks' of ruling NPP and opposition NDC.

"In Central Tongu in the Volta Region, 96 excess voters were recorded in the Roman Catholic JSS, Nukporte polling station and at Local Authority Primary School, Kpoviadzi B, 54 excess voters were recorded.

"In the Ashanti Region, Oforikrom Constituency also had interesting figures. At the Temporary Booth, New Amsterdam Hotel, Apra polling station, 663 excess voters were recorded. At another Temporary Booth, Amangoase Bebre, 345 excess voters were recorded," Mr Ephson said. Mr Ephson said there was an article in the book on how to prevent electoral anomalies.

The first 30 autographed copies of the book were auctioned between 2,000 Ghana cedis and 200 Ghana cedis.