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European Union observers in Ghana’s elections have said that while the voting process was transparent, the collation was “less transparent.”
“We observed the collection of results at the constituency level in 35 constituency collection centers and many of them were visited repeatedly. The collection process was less organized and less transparent often due to a lack of detailed procedures, inadequate facilities and overcrowding, which sometimes led to agents and observers not having a clear view of the procedures and the filling of the forms of results.
Cases of unrest and tension were observed in the constituencies of Asawase, Sunyani West and Techiman South. The results were compiled in the presence of party agents and observers and the main transparency measures were met, ”the Union said in its report.
According to EU observers, the Presidents of the Election Commission had difficulties completing the results form.
“The scrutiny, observed in 30 polling stations, was carried out in a largely transparent manner and always in the presence of party agents. The general conduct of the counting process was positively evaluated in 27 cases. However, EU EOM observers reported that procedures such as counting unused ballots, counting marks in voter registration and name reference list, counting ballots at the polls, cross-checking of the number of ballots in the ballot box with the number of ticks in the voter registration and the registration of the number of voters verified by the BVD and manually, were often not tracked. Additionally, the presidents appeared to have difficulty completing the results forms. The polling station results forms were not publicly displayed in 17 polling stations although party agents received a signed copy of the results form in all cases ”.
The report also said: “The voting took place in a generally peaceful atmosphere and the voting procedures were mainly followed, including biometric verification of voters.
“EU EOM observers reported various irregularities, such as that voters do not always mark their ballot secretly, mainly due to the poor distribution of polling stations (in 17 percent of polling stations observed), verification devices Biometrics (BVD) cannot always verify voters (9%), presence of unauthorized persons within polling stations (8%) and interference in the work of polling station personnel (4%). Party agents from both the NPP and the NDC were present at all but one polling station visited. The general conduct of voting was evaluated positively in 95% of the 329 polling stations observed. The EC sent COVID-19 ambassadors to all polling stations to enforce health protocols ”.
— starrfm
