December 7 Poll Results To Be Announced Within 72 Hours EC Announces

The Electoral Commission has said that the outcome of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections shall be declared 72 hours after the election as has been best practice of the Commission.

This announcement was made by the Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Bossman Asare while speaking on Joy News’ PM Express. 

According to Dr. Bossman Asare, due diligence would be made to ensure that there is accuracy, transparency, and strict adherence to stipulated timelines in the electoral process come December 7 and beyond.

“By convention, we work within 72 hours, and I believe we are going to work within the 72 hours to ensure that Ghanaians know the outcome of the presidential election.”

He opined that there is no need to trade accuracy for speed; hence, the commission will engage meticulous scrutiny of election results in order to ensure credibility at every stage of the electoral process.

Explaining the timeline, Dr. Bossman Asare highlighted the multi-step process required to collate results from constituencies across the country.

“For the parliamentary election, some constituencies may conclude their processes as early as 12 midnight, 1 am, or 2 am. After that, those presidential results will be sent to the regional capitals.

"From there, regional officials will review the results before forwarding them to the EC headquarters in Accra, where the Chairperson will officially declare the outcome,” Dr. Bossman Asare said.

According to him, the Electoral Commission is committed to working efficiently and accurately to make sure that Ghanaians are given the most memorable and incident-free electoral process come December 7, 2024.

“We shouldn’t forget that parties are going to be represented at all these levels to ensure transparency and credibility of the process.

The decision to adopt a 72-hour timeline this year is a strategic move to balance efficiency with thoroughness.

“The target we set in 2020 was to do it in 24 hours, but we ended up doing it in almost 48 hours. This time, we are giving ourselves more time.

"If we can get everything in less than 24 hours, why not? If we can get it in about 36 hours, we’ll go ahead and do it. But as much as possible, within 72 hours, we are going to do the needful,” he explained.

He further reassured Ghanaians and the international communities of a credible, transparent, free, and fair general election on December 7.

He said, “We will take our time and ensure that every step of the process is carefully managed so that, by the end of three days, the outcome is clear and adequate to all stakeholders.”


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