The President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, says the inconsistency of the figures from the presidential election released by the Electoral Commission has entrenched the belief that the election was rigged.
According to him, the discrepancy has emboldened the stance of the opposition National Democratic Congress that the election was flawed.
Speaking on The Big Issue, Mr. Cudjoe stated that “the EC’s back and forth has not helped any of the candidates. Now it is giving people, especially the NDC, the chance to be emboldened to say that, the fact that you admit that you have made errors, which was not made once [leave room for doubt]. The EC on three separate occasions changed the results after they first announced that they had made mistakes.”
“You are seeing a situation where they are rather now entrenching the belief, however vague it is, that somebody won or lost improperly. I think the major burden we have now is to deal with the inconsistent nature of the EC,” he added.
The President of IMANI Africa stated that the EC owes gratitude to the organizations that also have a system of tallying election figures.
“If the EC needs to thank anybody, it should thank CODEO, the CDD for having had a parallel system otherwise the shambolic processes of trying to change results, which in itself instigates crisis or confidence would have quite monumental.”
I’m unwilling to accept ‘fictionalised’ election outcome – Mahama
The Returning Officer of the 2020 Presidential Election, Jean Mensa, on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 declared Nana Akufo-Addo as president-elect of Ghana amidst a keenly contested election.
President Akufo-Addo won 6,730,587 (51.302%) of the total votes.
Mr. Mahama came second with 6,213,182 votes representing 47.359%.
The EC subsequently revised the figures several times.
The National Democratic Congress refused to accept that incumbent President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the 2020 general elections held last week Monday, December 7, 2020.
Flagbearer of the NDC, John Maham described the election results announced by the Electoral Commission as “fictionalised.”
John Mahama at a press conference said he is “unwilling to accept the fictionalised result of a flawed election”.
The NDC has long questioned the credibility of the Electoral Commission and its Chairperson Jean Mensa and Mr. Mahama said the electoral process justified their fears.
“It is now obvious to many objective minds that the Commission and its Chairperson have been used to manipulate results from the various constituencies and in that process seek to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people.”
The NDC flagbearer also said that the NDC had won the Majority in Parliament though the EC’s figures show the New Patriotic Party leading with 137 MP elects to the NDC’s 136, with one constituency outstanding.