National Coordinator for the Coalition of Domestic Observers (CODEO), Albert Kofi Arhin has expressed confidence in the Electoral Commission to deliver credible elections on December 7, 2020.
Mr. Arhin observed that the Commission completed the necessary preparations two weeks away from the polls giving it enough space to scrutinize the electoral materials and rectify any anomaly which may be detected.
This, he asserted, will enable the Commission deliver free, fair and transparent elections in the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary polls contrary to the assertion by the main opposition National Democratic Congress NDC) that the elections will likely not be credible.
“With two weeks (to the Elections), the EC have ballot ready which means they are much ahead of time and they will be able to even check if there is any problem with the ballots, they can quickly do some printing and set it right before the D-day. So, all this tells you that they are poised and they want to really deliver,” he said in interview on JoyNews TV.
The Commission, he disclosed, indicated, at the last IPAC meeting, that it was 97 percent ready for the elections.
According to him, the dispatch of presidential ballots to the various regions which was outstanding as at the time of the meeting has also been carried out with the training of polling personnel ongoing. This, he said, is an improvement of the Commission’s performance from the previous Elections and an indication of the EC’s resolve to deliver a credible election.
“it came out the other day (the last IPAC meeting) that they are 97 percent ready which goes to say that, at least, the sensitive and the non-sensitive materials are almost in the regions. When we met, I think they were just left with the presidential ballots that were supposed to be sent to the various regions and as I’m speaking right now, this has also been done. They have also started training seriously their polling personnel. It is a good omen and it shows that they learning from their past mistakes,” he said.
However, Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Peter Boamah Otokunor who was also speaking on same platform expressed a contrary view. He argued that the numerous anomalies his party allegedly detected have undermined the credibility of the processes hence, the Commission’s preparedness ahead of the polls may not guarantee a credible election.
