Palgrave Boakye-Danquah
The Executive Director of Kandifo Institute, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, has advised political parties and the media to allow the Electoral Commission (EC) declare the results of the general elections as mandated by law.
He pointed out that while civil society groups, including the media and political parties, monitor the process and collate results, the official mandate in terms of announcing results still belongs to the EC.
His appeal follows observations by the think tank after the just-ended special voting exercise where a political party pulled off a supposed percentage out of the exercise, while it has not been counted.
He also pointed out that it is important that all political parties refrain from going ahead of the EC to make declarations, especially on those constituencies that have not been officially counted.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, he said “it is always important that we allow the Electoral Commission to call forth the elections.”
“These are the things if you advise yourself to do, then we’ll ensure that tensions will not arise,” he added.
Abusing social media
He further admonished the public to refrain from displaying their votes on social media.
Three persons were Tuesday grabbed by the police for sharing their votes on social media during the special voting exercise.
Meanwhile, the Institute has admonished all, especially political parties, to campaign on issues, discuss and unpack their policies and desist from either capturing in video or picture secret ballots of electorate.
“We are putting together a team that will analyse the remaining 11 manifestos and pull out developmental projects that will be helpful for whichever political party that wins and will present it to that government in the collective interest of the country,” he said.
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