Jean Mensa – The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), has called on political parties to move away from prematurely declaring election results during the 2020 polls.
She said with the Commission intends to declare the certified results within record time, all stakeholders including political parties must be patient for the commission to do its work.
She made this known during a presser on Sunday emphasized that the EC is the only institution that has the power to declare results hence all stakeholders must defer their interests in declaring election results ahead of time to the Commission.
She further urged political parties to remain patient and allow the Commission to do its work.
“By law, the Electoral Commission is the only body or institution clothed with power and authority to declare presidential and parliamentary results. I, therefore, caution all stakeholders particularly political parties to desist from declaring results. We have indicated our intention to declare the final certified results in a timely manner, and we will do so with God being our helper. We, therefore, called on all our stakeholders to remain patient and leave the Electoral Commission to perform its functions,” she said.
Jean Mensa said while there is no punishment for persons or groups who go ahead of the EC to declare results, the public, especially the media must publicly condemn any such person or group, stressing that such conduct could lead to chaos in the country.
“There is no punishment [but] we entreat the public to disregard any such announcement because nobody has the power [to declare results]. Also, the public should condemn parties that fall foul of the law,” she added.
For various reasons, previous elections in Ghana have seen political parties declaring results they gather and claim to be authentic ahead of the official declaration of the election management body.
