Election 2024: Ghana’s Electoral Commission Enhances Election Integrity with New Staffing Measures

Accra: Ahead of the December general elections, the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has introduced new staffing roles by hiring Constituency/Regional Coalition Officers to ensure the elections are conducted with heightened fairness, transparency, and credibility. According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Bossman Asare, Deputy Chairman in-charge of Corporate Services at the EC, announced that the recruitment of the new officers, who possess strong backgrounds in statistics and mathematics, aims to improve the efficiency and accuracy of election result collation. The announcement was made during the official launch of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers' (CODEO) election day observation activities in Accra. Dr Bossman detailed the structural changes in the election process, noting that the new officers would support existing district and returning officers, who previously faced continuous work without rest during the election period. He emphasized that these changes are intended to bolster the process of result collation at both constituency and regional levels, as per the provisions of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 127, which governs the coalition of Presidential Election Results. The Deputy Chairman explained that after votes are counted at polling stations, the results will be sent to Constituency Coalition Centres and subsequently to Regional Coalition Centres. This step is crucial as it allows the EC to declare presidential election results for each region separately, enhancing the transparency and verification process. Dr Bossman also highlighted the role of political party agents, who are expected to be present at Polling Stations, Constituency Coalition Centres, and Regional Coalition Centres to ensure that all parties have the opportunity to oversee the collation process. In addition to structural changes, Dr Bossman provided updates on the logistics of the election. He noted that there are 18.8 million voters registered for the upcoming elections, with a total of 40,975 polling stations plan ned, including 328 special voting centers designated for voting on December 2, 2024. Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the African Union (AU) High Representative for Silencing the Guns and Chairman of the AU High-Level Panel on Sudan, who was present at the launch, called upon Ghanaians to maintain peace during the elections. He praised Ghana's reputation for conducting peaceful and credible elections and expressed hope that this tradition would continue.