EC won’t uphold ‘lawless’ declaration of results – Jean Mensa

The Electoral Commission (EC) has firmly stated that it will not validate results declared under duress or without adherence to proper collation processes as enshrined in the law.

Addressing the media on Thursday, December 19 on controversies surrounding results from nine outstanding constituencies, EC Chairperson Jean Mensa condemned the actions of political party supporters who disrupted collation activities at constituency centres during the December 7 polls.

“At the close of polls on Saturday the 7th of December 2024, there was a directive by some political party leaders to their supporters to besiege the coalition centres of the EC where the coalition was taking place.

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“…The directive to the supporters to besiege the constituency collation centres was targeted at destroying documentary evidence and pink sheets, ballot papers, results collation forms, computers and to erase and wipe out all documents to be used for the collation.”

Madam Mensa noted that collation processes across all centres were proceeding in accordance with the provisions of Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 127 until violent disruptions occurred.

“The presence of hundreds of supporters who besieged our coalition centres brought proceedings to a standstill in a number of the centres. ….In some instances, they vandalized and destroyed the desktop computers set up to collate the results electronically,” she stated.

The EC Chairperson disclosed that some staff faced threats of death and were coerced into declaring results without following due process.

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“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,” the EC Chairperson stated.

Citing specific instances, Madam Mensa highlighted disruptions in the Ablekuma North and Okaikwei Central constituencies, noting that results for these areas were declared without collating data from 62 and 31 polling stations, respectively.