Election results can be manipulated most easily at polling places by setting up too many “unwanted” conditions – Afari Gyan

Results tabulation centres are more prone to manipulation than any other point in the chain of electoral processes, former Electoral Commission chair Kwadwo Afari Gyan has said.

He has, thus, advised the election management body against setting up too many of them in future general elections so as to minimise the chances of results manipulation.

Speaking at a forum to mark 60 years of the political science department of the University of Ghana, Dr Afari Gyan said: “Voter tabulation sounds like a simple and straightforward activity, however, examples from recent elections will indicate that collation centres are the most vulnerable points in manipulating election results”.

“So, it is not desirable to set up many collation points in the results management process”, he warned.

He said: “Each collation centre represents a point where results can be corrupted wilfully or through mistakes”.

“Also, the more collation centres there are, the more difficult to track changes and results”, he observed.