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Presidential Seat of Ghana
Presidential Seat of Ghana

How fairly will our next President be elected?

So far, three political parties have the full complement of their presidential team ready for this year’s polls. The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has President John Dramani Mahama and Vice-President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, the dominant opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo and running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia while the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and Ms Brigette Dzogbenuku, a women’s advocate and former beauty queen, as running mate. The other political parties are yet to do so.

This brings to the fore the vexed issue of  who becomes Ghana’s next president after the polls slated for December 7.?

As this year’s polls draw closer, how fairly will our next President be elected?  The electoral processes leading to who becomes the next president on January 7, 2017 are being keenly watched, every step of the way.

In its wake, the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Mrs Charlotte Osei, has dismissed assertions by a section of the public that she can solely decide the outcome of the 2016 general election.

She believes that: “It is just not possible for rigging to take place under the system” and that “the system and the reforms that have been put in place require the entire personnel of the commission, including district officers and her other six commissioners, to rig an election for a particular candidate”.

“For Charlotte Osei to rig elections, she has to get the support and active involvement of her six co-commissioners, her 10 regional directors, the 200-plus District Electoral Officers, the 275 Returning Officers and their two assistants.”

She added: “Then when you get to the polling stations, for this year’s election, Charlotte Osei has to let all these people decide to toe the line. You are likely to have over 500,000 agents for candidates per party and two counting agents per party at the collation centres. All these people must actively be working and changing the documents for Charlotte Osei to rig the election.

“So I need to convince 500,000-plus people to skew the system in favour of one person. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet and it is not even a part of my value system that I will do that. Basically, it is impossible.”

Cooling down uneasy nerves

These are great assurances from the country’s first woman electoral commissioner which hopefully must cool down uneasy nerves. 

But notwithstanding these assurances that it will take a whole cartel to rig the forthcoming general election, since the system makes it “impossible” for one person to do so, there is still the need for more openness, transparency and neutrality in the whole process.

The commission cannot rest on its oars or be complacent in its drive to deliver the most credible election whose outcome will be accepted by all stakeholders. 

This is because if the voting public as well as candidates of  political parties do not accept the election results due to real or perceived electoral fraud or irregularities, the whole national exercise will be tainted and its ramifications will be bad for the nation.

It must be pointed out that integrity problems might arise at the polling station or counting centre  where the ballots are counted. To maintain the integrity of the process, vote counting must produce results that are valid, accurate and accepted by all participants. 

The issues of over-voting must be well defined to the understanding of all stakeholders and proper data capturing must not be compromised to avoid the problems that the country encountered in 2012. 

Already, the EC is having difficulties explaining the electronic transmission of election results to some of the political parties. I think  it will serve all of us a lot of good if this bridge is quickly crossed.

Things to do

In my view, there are few things the EC must do and do them rightly for free, fair and credible polls. The commission, in its deeds and actions, must continue to be truly independent, neutral and non-partisan as well as prove beyond all reasonable doubts its commitment to deepening multi-party democracy. However, in its efforts at deepening multi-party democracy, the EC must not shy away from insisting that the rules and regulations governing the conduct of all political parties are respected. This is because the existence of strong political parties is necessary for the survival of democracy.

There can never be any strong democracy and good governance if the EC continues to shy away from demands of accountability from the political parties who are seeking the people’s mandate in order to manage the resources, both human and natural, of the land.

Vote Transfer

Currently, the EC has announced that it will from Monday, August 15, to Friday August 19, 2016, accept applications for Vote Transfer from persons who wish to contest this year’s general election as Presidential or Parliamentary candidates.

All these important activities, if not handled in an open and transparent manner, can engender unforseen challenges during the elections.

This is because some candidates have targeted some students in schools who do not hail from their constituencies to transfer their votes for political advantage.

Political parties and their candidates must endeavour to work to give the whole exercise credibility.

In so doing, the parties themselves must not be seen to be cutting corners by engaging in lies, mischief and inducement for political advantage.

The timely distribution of the voters register to all political parties is very essential for credible polls to win the confidence of stakeholders.

The role of the media in promoting multi-party democracy is also paramount by giving equal access to all political parties to sell their messages.

It is only when the EC, political parties, the media and all stakeholders complement each other truthfully, that the verdict of the people  will count.

 

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