Go to court to bring EC back from break

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 Policy

Source: My GH news

2020-12-23

The New Patriotic Party (PNP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, says that the Electoral Commission (EC) has been interrupted and there is nothing wrong with that.

Ghanaians, some CSOs, and especially members of the NDC have bitterly complained about the Election Commission’s decision to take a recess until January 19, when the country is currently tense over the NDC’s decision not to admit the defeat.

But reacting to public concerns, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko believes there is nothing wrong with the Commission’s decision to take a hiatus, as it is legally enshrined.

For him, the Election Commission has been working for the past six months to ensure that Ghana has one of the smoothest elections in the country’s history and he will undoubtedly need a break after organizing one of the best elections in the country.

Below is Gabby’s comment

The Ghana Electoral Commission has gone on Christmas break because its job is done. There is nothing remotely irresponsible about this. It does not mean that a court cannot compel the EC to go to court. It does not mean that your lawyers are asleep. It does not mean that the entire system is off. No! And we know it! In about six months, Jean Mensa and his team have done what no Commission has done before. He has compiled the largest (biometric) voter registration ever conducted in Ghana at the closest time to the general election and has done so at the height of the global coronavirus pandemic in Ghana. It has held the largest general elections in history in the largest number of polling stations in a single day and without causing an increase in covid-19 cases.

This is remarkable from every point of view. It has declared the 275 parliamentary results where the law says it should: at the local level and has published them nationally. For the presidential results, he even inserted another layer of collation at a critical level: the regional level to generate another important level of support between parties, since political parties have organizations at the polling station level, constituency level, regional level and Nacional level. .

This means that at every major level of Ghana’s political organization structure, the EC has established a system of tabulation of results for broader cross-party scrutiny and endorsement. That is good for transparency and accountability. The EC has declared the presidential results and has also announced the results. According to the laws of the country, the elections really ended. However, it does not mean that the result is completely done and dusted. Any dispute with the results can only be handled in the courts of law.

The EC can do nothing more than defend its work or otherwise in court for the judges to decide one way or another. The NDC has challenges and the nuclear power plant has challenges too. Both parties believe that they have legitimate complaints to question some of the declared parliamentary results. The NDC is even giving the additional impression that it may even challenge the presidential results; If only he could gather enough evidence to try to nullify a margin of more than half a million votes. We can only wish them the best.

“They both know what to do. This is how a responsible society behaves. Challenge results but do it within the rules. Even when you have problems, legitimate or not, about how the rules have been applied, you still have no choice but to work within the rules. of the rules of the game. It’s that simple and that’s what society expects from its leaders. I’m sorry. “