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Let us have confidence in the Electoral Commission – Aliu
Accra, June 30, Ghanadot/GNA – Vice
President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on Monday called on the
leadership of political parties in the country to have
confidence in the honesty, ability and reputation of the
Electoral Commission (EC).
He said this would ensure that results of Election 2008
reflected the aspirations of majority of Ghanaians.
The Vice President made the call when launching a book
titled – The Countdown to 2008 Elections, written by Mr Ben
Ephson, Managing Editor of Daily Dispatch.
“I call on all who profess to adhere to multi-party
democracy and by implication, sustainable development in
stability to respect and protect the EC’s capacity, ability
and reputation to deliver a verdict that reflects the true
will of the people.
“We should vote in the knowledge that at the end of the day,
the vote is as it ought to be because the EC is an honest
broker that reflects our confidence because we participated
in shaping the process,” he said.
Alhaji Aliu noted that in 2004, Ghana’s electoral system was
commended world-wide as having come of age, and in
Sub-Saharan Africa, a fifth consecutive free and fair
election might be a record and Ghanaians should be proud of
once again leading with the political light of Africa.
He said it was time Ghanaians moved their considerable
energies from mere political contention for power to
economic emancipation.
Alhaji Aliu said this could be achieved by accepting that
together we had built a solid electoral administrative
system that had earned the trust of voters and respect of
the international community over the years.
He noted that even though Mr Ephson’s electoral predictions
had usually been disputed by various political parties and
other analysts, they had always been very close to the
actual results.
“If Mr Ephson’s predictions are anything to go by then
Election 2008 would be a close one. But I believe that
whether the winner is by a margin of exactly 50 per cent
plus one or 54 per cent, the rules clearly state that we
have a winner,” he said.
Alhaji Aliu noted that no matter how close the elections
results would be, it was always about the majority of
Ghanaians, saying that Ghanaians could not afford to allow
themselves to be deflected from the path of sustainable
democracy because a contending party refused to accept
defeat.
“Elections are about numbers and the party that is able to
garner more numbers wins. My greatest prayer is that all
contesting parties accept the count – however close – in
good faith as a true reflection of the wishes of majority of
eligible Ghanaian voters,” he said.
Mr Ephson said the 236-page book was an improvement on a
previous publication in 2004.
He said additional features were the inclusion of maps of
all 10 regions with constituencies, over 100 pages of
electoral data and statistics and the results of all
Presidential and Parliamentary polls in 2004.
Mr Ephson said “elections are won and lost at the polling
stations,” because research had indicated that actual votes
counted at 123 polling stations were more than actual
registered voters at those polling stations.
However, he said those anomalies did not favour any
particular political party and some of the anomalies were in
the two political ‘world banks’ of ruling NPP and opposition
NDC.
“In Central Tongu in the Volta Region, 96 excess voters were
recorded in the Roman Catholic JSS, Nukporte polling station
and at Local Authority Primary School, Kpoviadzi B, 54
excess voters were recorded.
“In the Ashanti Region, Oforikrom Constituency also had
interesting figures. At the Temporary Booth, New Amsterdam
Hotel, Apra polling station, 663 excess voters were
recorded. At another Temporary Booth, Amangoase Bebre, 345
excess voters were recorded,” Mr Ephson said.
Mr Ephson said there was an article in the book on how to
prevent electoral anomalies.
The first 30 autographed copies of the book were auctioned
between 2,000 Ghana cedis and 200 Ghana cedis.
GNA
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