President-elect John Mahama has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to maintain transparency and fairness in addressing disputes over the parliamentary election results in nine constituencies.
Speaking on the issue, Mr. Mahama underscored the importance of consistency in the EC’s actions, urging the commission to adhere to established principles and avoid altering procedures to fit specific situations.
“There are few outstanding issues arising from the election. As you are aware, nine constituencies are in dispute, and we think that the Electoral Commission should act in a principled manner. You cannot change the rules when it suits you and apply different rules when different circumstances exist,” he stated.
Mr. Mahama highlighted precedents from the 2020 elections to emphasize the need for a uniform approach. Recalling the case of Techiman South, he noted that a declaration was made under chaotic conditions with armed personnel present, yet the EC insisted that grievances should be resolved in court rather than through a re-collation.
“There was a particular case in 2020 and the Electoral Commission came out clearly that if a declaration had been made, it was not the duty of the Electoral Commission to adjudicate it.
“The courts were the right place to go. And so if a declaration has been made, it doesn’t matter under what circumstances…They are saying that somewhere under duress. In the case of Techiman South, it was under duress.
“There were soldiers in the collation room. There was chaos in the collation room when the declaration was made and the same arguments were passed that, there should be a re-collation and the Electoral Commission said, no. There can’t be any re-collation once a declaration has been made,” he recounted.
Mr. Mahama argued that the same standard should apply to the current disputes, urging the EC to uphold its precedent by directing grievances regarding declared results to the courts.
“In these circumstances, declarations have been made. If people have a grievance, they must go to the courts and redress those grievances there. We don’t think that the goalpost should be shifted depending on who is at the other end of the stick,” he added.
However, he acknowledged one exceptional case where no declaration was made, suggesting that in such a scenario, the EC would need to determine the appropriate course of action, which could include a rerun.
Calling for expediency, fairness, and justice, the President-elect urged the EC to resolve the disputes swiftly to bring clarity to the election’s final outcome.
“We think that there must be fairness and justice in everything that we do. And so that’s a concern we have, that those issues will be resolved as quickly as possible so that we know what the final outcome of the election is,” he concluded.
Source: InsiderGH.com