The Electoral Commission (EC) has disclosed that its staff at several collation centres faced death threats from political party supporters during the collation process, leading to disruptions and invalid results in certain constituencies.
Addressing a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, December 19, EC Chairperson Jean Mensa condemned the violent actions of political party supporters who besieged EC offices and attacked staff.
She described the incidents as unacceptable and cited them as the primary reason for the incomplete collation of results in some areas.
“The presence of hundreds of supporters who besieged our collation centres brought proceedings to a standstill in a number of the centres. These supporters destroyed pink sheets required for the collation as well as results collation forms in some areas.
“In some instances, they vandalised and destroyed the desktop computers set up to collate the results electronically. Additionally and sadly, they beat up our staff and threatened them with death and ultimately brought proceedings at the constituency collation centres to a halt,” she stated.
The EC Chairperson added that some results were declared by returning officers under duress and threat even from political party leaders. She described the conduct as unacceptable and the declaration under duress and threats as illegal.
“Our collation centres were once again disrupted and taken over by political party leaders and supporters and results were declared for those constituencies without due process being followed.
“In the case of Okaikwei Central, a winner was declared without collating results from 31 polling stations. In the case of the Ablekuma North constituency, a winner was declared without collating results from 62 polling stations. This is unacceptable.
“It is important to note that the declarations made by our staff were made under threat and the commission considers this illegal. Those declarations as well as others that have gone on in other constituencies will not be upheld by the commission,” she said.
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