Rains, others affected results declaration timeline – Jean Mensa

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Jean Mensa says rains and other challenges on election day affected the timeline set for results declaration.

The commission failed on its promise to announce results 24 hours after the polls.

“We express our regret for our inability to declare the results at 5 pm on Tuesday as planned. The unexpected rains and some of the challenges we experienced at the collation centre made it difficult to declare the result as expected. We are hoping that, in the early hours of today, we will receive two additional results and will thereafter be able to make the declaration today” she told the Media at a press briefing Tuesday night.

She noted however that results in the Presidential and Parliamentary polls will be declared today Wednesday, December 9, 2020.

“As we speak, the Commission has received 14 out of the 16 regional results. We have the national collation centre where we have had representatives of the various political parties since yesterday. As the results come in, the party representatives review them against what they themselves have received from the regions and once they are satisfied that the results that have come to us from the regions are a true reflection of what they have received, they then append their signatures to it before the results are brought to my attention. As Returning Officer of the 2020 presidential election, I then certify these results. Out of the 14 results received, we have certified seven up to date”, she noted.

Background

The Electoral Commission (EC) has extended its timeline for results declaration for the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary polls.

The EC had sent out invitation for the event which was scheduled for 5pm Tuesday in line with its projections before the polls.

However, in a statement, the EC said it was shifting the announcement to a latter period to enable them efficiently collate the results.

Background

The electoral commission last month defended its decision to announce the results of the December 7 presidential elections within 24 hours.

The NDC has kicked against any hasty decision from the EC following its earlier announcement.

But addressing the media, Chairperson for the commission Madam Jean Mensa assured adequate measures have been deployed to ensure timely transmissions of all sixteen regions.

She also noted that the CI 127 governing the elections allows for constituency results to be sent to the regions for subsequent forwarding to the EC head office unlike before when the head office received results directly.

According to her, the EC has the confidence of meeting the said target of calling the elections within twenty-four hours

She quizzed “if you have the results, why sit on it. Why sit on the results when you have the result?” adding that,  “we all know that our media houses have in the past been able to present the results within some ten hours of the poll, and so if you put in place systems to ensure that you receive the results on time, why the panic?”.

Source: Starrfm.com.gh