The Electoral Commission (EC) has warned media houses to desist from declaring results which have not been certified by them in the upcoming November general elections.
According to the Electoral Commission such an act may lead to the irregularities in the publication of the results, which would make work very difficult for the EC and as well create tension in the country especially among political parties.
Speaking to CITI FM news, a Deputy Commissioner at the EC, Georgina Opoku Amankwah says figures that appear on television screens can be accepted as valid but not in instances where some media would have to collate the results on their own and then declare ahead of the commission’s results.
She noted that “platforms who calculate the polling station voting results on their own should bear in mind that their platforms are not the formal platforms under the laws of this country to declare the final results, therefore even though they can collate on their own they should not expect their figures to be the same as that of the EC.”
“Electioneering problems set in when calculated results by some media house in a particular station becomes less or more than what the EC finally settles on, which should not be entertained in a country like Ghana where the EC is the only section that has the mandate to declare accepted results,” she said.
Mrs. Opoku Amankwah added that in order to curb these problems which may cause chaos in the upcoming elections, the EC pleads with all media houses especially radio stations to be very circumspect in their dealings in respect to the November polls for peace to prevail before, during and after the elections.
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