Though one cannot talk about democracy without the mention of an election, the latter has, at the time, been used as a weapon to cause destruction in most countries across the globe. Even the almighty America, which has been practicing democracy for well over two hundred years, is on the verge of being thrown into chaos following the rejection of the election results by the incumbent President, Donald Trump.
Trump supporters are currently on the streets of Washington and other cities protesting against the results declared by the various states, alleging fraud. All these developments are happening in the world’s most powerful country because, for the first time in their recent history, results of the USA elections have delayed due to, as most of the international media are saying, the high patronage by voters.
It is an undeniable fact that delays in releasing any results always bring about apprehensions, and some unscrupulous people sometimes take advantage of the situation to cause confusion. The Chronicle is, therefore, happy that the Electoral Commission (EC) is taking steps to ensure the early release of the final results of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls.
At her recent interaction with the members of the Council of State, the Chairperson of the EC, Madam Jean Mensa, was quoted as saying: “We are promoting some efficiency into the system. We have worked with our numbers and we have a duration within which the results should be transmitted.
“We are expecting that by the next day, we should be able to declare the results. We do not intend to go beyond 24 hours. And we are confident that God being our helper, because of the efficiency we have introduced into the processes, we should be able to declare results within 24 hours. At the polling station level, we have given the polling centres an hour and a half to be able to send the results to the collation centre.”
This is really a refreshing news, because, if the EC is, indeed, able to declare the results within the period it has set for itself, there will be no room for any individuals or groups to make unsubstantiated claims that the election was being rigged in favour of one party, because the declaration has delayed.
In previous elections, the final results were declared between thirty-six and forty-eight hours. In our view, therefore, if the current EC leadership has managed to bring it down to just twenty-four hours, then it is an achievement we all need to applaud. After all, America, with all the resources at her disposal, is taking weeks to declare the final presidential results.
But, whilst commending the EC for this achievement, should their projections go according to plan, The Chronicle also wishes to bring its attention to another important issue or concern that must be addressed. During the exhibition of the voters register, it was discovered, or became known, that some people did not find their names on the register. We are aware that the EC has taken steps to address the anomaly, but should the problems recur on voting day, people will take advantage of that to discredit the elections.
The IT Department of the Commission, therefore, has the responsibility of ensuring that the final register has the names of all the people who registered during the registration exercise. We equally advice the political parties, which have already been given copies of the register, to scrupulously study it and make their reservations, if any, known to the electoral body before the final voting day.
Ghanaians will not accept any ugly noises from the parties about the register on voting day when they had earlier opportunity to make any corrections.
The post Editorial: Declaration of results within 24hrs is refreshing news appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS