The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has charged the Electoral Commission (EC) to make its timelines for preparation before, during and after the 2016 general elections public as soon as possible.
According to CODEO, the timelines must be released latest by January and be made public to all Ghanaians and not just the political parties.
Project Manager for CODEO, Dr Franklin Oduro, speaking to The Finder in an exclusive interview, said the earlier the EC releases its programmes, the better it will help other stakeholders like CODEO to plan and support them.
“The EC must quickly come out with programmes as to how they are preparing towards the elections because the earlier they publish their timelines the better it will allow groups to plan and engage and support the process,” he said.
He added that some of the reforms CODEO would like the EC to take immediate action on is strengthening the capacity of its temporal staff to be able to perform on Election Day since that was a challenge in previous elections.
He said the training and capacity building of the officials is critical, and they would want to know the mechanism the EC has put in place to address that issue.
Dr Oduro also mentioned that CODEO would also want to know the system that would be put in place to ensure that the various political parties get copies of the voters’ register ahead of the Election Day as was recommended by the Supreme Court and the electoral reform committee.
He also noted that it should make issues surrounding demystifying the election strong room and making the results collating process from the polling station to the national level more transparent and public.
Another reform CODEO mentioned was that the EC should take into consideration the sanctioning of electoral officials who break the law.
The project manager again said the EC must ensure that the various political parties adhere to the political party law, and added “there is the need for us to know what mechanisms will be put in place to enforce the laws”.
On the issue of getting a new voters’ register, Dr Oduro stated that CODEO does not have any position on it because it does not have empirical evidence to prove that the register is genuine or not.
He, however, noted that fundamental to a successful election is a good register, hence there is the need to find a way to get a good register.
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