EC begins nationwide review of 2012 elections
The Electoral Commission on Thursday commenced a review of the 2012 elections, with the Ashanti region being the first region of call.
The review aimed at assessing the conduct of the 2012 election and was supported by Department for International Development (DFID) and facilitated by KAB Governance Consult.
At the meeting, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan noted that an election can be free and fair if political parties play their active roles.
“What is worrying is the fact that the parties bring us people to train and then they will not use those people on Election Day” he lamented.
Speaking on Citi News the Principal Public Relations Officer at the Electoral Commission, Mrs Sylvia Annor indicated the program was aimed at reviewing the 2012 election.
She noted that a review of the election win the region as presented by the Ashanti regional director who gave a comprehensive report.
“The report delved into problems emanating from the conduct of the polling agents who were not chosen on merit but based on strength. It always tackled on issues of security and the conduct of some polling staff” she said.
She noted that “after every electoral process, we review the processes to see what we call the SWOT analysis to know the problems that emanated from the election. After this is done we come up with suggestion in a view to improving on it the next round” she added.
According to her, the review program would not affect the Court proceedings in any way since it is a program that the EC organizes after every election.
“This is without prejudice to the court proceedings; it is a normal thing that the EC has been doing over the years. It will in no way affect the court proceedings” she stated.
She emphasized “it is prudent that we review the election by going back to the drawing table to find out what went wrong and what can be done to improve the next elections.”
Source: Citi News
