According to Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the bureaucratic nature of the manual results collation process would make it practically impossible for the EC to collect and certify results from all the 275 constituencies within 24 hours after the close of polls.
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Election 2020: EC's plan to declare presidential election results 24hrs after polls unrealistic - NDC
The Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said the Electoral Commission's (EC) plans to announce results for the 2020 presidential elections 24 hours after polls is unrealistic.
Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah
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The Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe said the EC was determined to declare the results by the time Ghanaians go to sleep on December 8.
He said the Commission had made all the necessary provisions to make sure the declaration of the results was not delayed.
He explained that "It is about planning and putting in place the mechanisms in terms of logistics, because, normally, within two hours of elections, results are declared. What is left is how to convey the results from the various points to the collation centres", and added, "Even if it demands that we airlift them, we will do that."
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But the NDC cautioned the EC "not to be in an indecent haste to create any confusion in the declaration of results."
EC boss, Jean Mensa
Pulse Ghana
Afriyie Ankrah addressing the press on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, said "After the close of polls, the ballots are sorted and counted at every polling station and then signed by both the party agents and the Presiding Officer. When that is done, the results of the polling stations are now sent to the constituency collation centre for the collation of the same in the constituency by the constituency’s Returning Officer. Before the Returning Officer can declare the results, the officer must see all the individual results from all the polling stations.
"Therefore, before the Electoral Commissioner who is the Returning Officer for the presidential elections declares the results, she must have received all the results from all the 275 constituencies, not the 16 regions and certify that what she has is truly what happened with the signatures of all the political party agents. That is what happens and it is the proper time tested system over the years. So one does not just wake up and say that we will announce just any results in 24 hours just to set a record."
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