The Electoral Commission (EC) has noted with concern that the electronic transmission system it adopted for the transmission of the 2016 election results may have been compromised.
Mrs Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the EC, said due to this, officials of the Commission had to resort to the manual transmission of results.
She said in one coalition centre after the scores of each candidate had been entered, it was observed that there was a shift and as a result wrong score were allocated to each candidate.
“We have reason to believe the system has been compromised and we advised our returning officers at the collating centres to stop using it and revert solely to the manual process.
“So as we speak, we are still awaiting results through the manual process to come in and we are making efforts to make sure that we see that the polling station results before the final declaration,” Mrs Osei said at a press conference held to give an update on the December 7 polls.
She said as at 1700 hours on Thursday, only 90 constituencies’ presidential and parliamentary results had reached the National Coalition Centre (NCC).
Mrs Osei congratulated those who had won their parliamentary seats and wished them well.
She said so far no result has arrived from the Volta and the Northern Regions.
She said the representatives of two leading parties – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the NCC have refused to endorse the results sheets for her to certify; adding that this, however, does not invalidate the result.
She said there was the need for the Commission to be prudent and meticulous in the collation of the results in order to deliver a credible result.
Mrs Osei said the Commission owed it a duty to Ghanaians to declare accurate and credible results which reflect the will of the people.
“The history of our presidential elections in the fourth Republic of Ghana have been very close and because of that closeness, we have a duty to ensure that we take our time, we collate the results properly and the process of collation remains as inclusive and as transparent as the process of the elections,” Mrs Osei said.
She cited instance in 2008 and 2012 where presidential results declarations went beyond 24 hours, but were finally declared by the Commission within the stipulated 72 hours.
Mrs Osei said the Commission would not change or manipulate the result; stating that “the results have already been declared on a polling station by polling station basis”.
“All we are doing is picking all those results that have been already been declared and putting it together, but in doing that, we must ensure accuracy,” she said.
She assured the public that the EC in line with its constitutional mandate would declare the presidential result within the stipulated 72 hours.
She urged Ghanaians to remain calm and allow the EC to do its work.
She described the conduct of the December 7 polls as generally peaceful, and that voting was extended by five hours due to late start on the Dwarf and Didza Islands in the Afraim Plains North.
She said Jaman North Constituency, which could not vote on December 7, due to a misunderstanding over the voters register had its turn on December 8.
Source:GNA
