The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei has hinted that she may stop the declaration of the results of the forthcoming presidential elections and call for a recount if the results were to be too close.
According to her, the commission was expecting to declare the results within 48 and 72 hours after polling ends on December 7 without failure, and that the only thing that may delay or may call for recount is when the result was too close.
This, Mrs Osei said was to help avoid a declaration of the wrong person as the winner of the election since the country has been experiencing very close elections.
“Our elections in Ghana tend to be very close. If it is so close, it might be prudent to stop, inform everyone, do a total recount and be sure of what we are announcing finally,” Mrs Osei said in an interview with BBC Africa which was carried live via Facebook on Thursday.
But that explanation by the chair of the commission has been challenged with some saying they don’t really understand what the commissioner meant.
The Director of Elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for instance, Mr Martin Agyei Mensah Korsah in a radio interview on Accra based Neat FM has said the commission has no power to call for a recount.
He said it was only a candidate or a polling agent who could call for a recount. He said even with that, it has to be done at the polling station or at the constituency collation centre and that cannot be more than two times.
“Maybe the commissioner was referring to the summaries,” he said and added that it was not the duty of the EC to call for a recount since the law does not permit that, its only candidates or polling agents who can call for a recount. We don’t really understand what she means by that.”
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