The Deputy Chairperson of Corporate Services at the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Dr. Bossman Asare, says the re-collation of election results for some constituencies at the Tesano Police Deport is within the legal mandate of the EC.
Dr. Bossman Asare, said regulation 43 of C.I. 127, provides clear guidelines for the collation process during Parliamentary elections. However, during the collation of parliamentary in some constituencies, the laid down procedures were not adhered to hence the intervention by the Electoral Commission to conduct a re-collation exercise at the Tesano Police Deport.
According to him, the EC in conjunction with the Ghana Police Service, decided to relocate the collation centers of the affected constituencies to the Tesano Police Deport to ensure the safety of their staff.
“It is instructive to note that as a result of the instructions that took place during the re-collation and to ensure the safety and security of our staff in the collation process, the Commission agreed with the Ghana Police Service to relocate the collation centre to the Tesano Police Depot.
“The Commission duly inform the Political Party leadership to provide the names of two agents as required by law. The collation at the Tesano Police Depot was observed by party agents for the four constituencies, namely; Fanteakwa North, Akwatia, Suhum, and Nsawam Adoagyiri.” He said.
Dr. Bossman Asare explained, “with the exception of the Nsawam Adoagyiri constituency, the coalition was successfully concluded in the other three constituencies.
“The coalition process was far advanced for Nsawam Adoagyiri constitutes, however, political parties agreed to return to continue with the re-collation.”
The Deputy Chair of Corporate Services at the EC, disclosed that, although the EC maintains that the re-collation is within their legal mandates, the process has stopped due to security reasons.
“The process, however, stopped because the police indicated that the environment was not conducive to enable and provide the needed security in light of the impending threats by political party supporters.
“They indicated that per their institutional analysis, there could be loss of life if the re-collation was allowed to continue. The EC has maintained however that the re-collation is not illegal and it is within its mandate.” He said.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
