Editorial: Will we ever have an election devoid of violence?

Anytime there is an election, there is bound to be a winner and a loser or losers.The fate of those contesting an election always resides in the hands of the electorate or those who will cast the ballot.

It, however, rests with those contesting the various positions to convince those who would be casting the votes that they are well able to serve in the positions for which they are contesting.

In such contests there are always vigorous and rigorous campaigns in the run-up to the elections, which understandably whip up some excitement in the electorate.

Ghana has had its fair share of elections since it became a nation and especially since 1992 till date when it has experienced smooth transitions from one government to the other.

However, it must be told that in all the elections, there have been pockets of violence before, during and even after the results have been declared by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Mostly, the violence has erupted as a result of misunderstandings between factions belonging to either the same political party or different political parties, or disagreements with those presiding over the elections, such as the EC.

The spate of violence only goes to show the lack of trust in the electoral process or the security agencies’ ability to keep the peace during such electioneering periods.

We, however, contend that we must get to a point where we, as a country, would let the laid-down procedures and processes determine the outcome of disagreements or misunderstandings, instead of taking the law into our own hands.

Tensions are always high because we easily get carried away and let our emotions get the better part of us because our preferred candidate is losing out or an opponent is losing.

The Daily Graphic believes that if we are to vote for our leaders based on the manifestoes they sell to the electorate and the way they are able to articulate how they would ensure that all that they are saying would come to fruition, we would have more fruitful elections.

This would also do away with the unnecessary arguments and debates that most often end up in fisticuffs that work against the peace of the elections.

We believe that when an individual or a political party gets the majority of votes because of how well its vision is sold to the electorate and underperform once it gets into power, the prudent way is to use the same electoral process to vote it out.

Security during every election is very important but it does not only behove the security agencies to keep the peace, but the leadership of all political parties as well. We therefore implore the leadership of all Ghana’s political parties to do well to explain the electoral process to their members, and more importantly sensitise them to the best way to avoid arguments and debates that would only engender strife and eventually result in violence.

Such violence does not augur well for our democracy, since it has the tendency to take us back from the gains we, as a country, have made.

We urge all stakeholders – the political parties, the Electoral Commission, the security agencies and the electorate – to have that common purpose to do all in their power to bring trust in Ghana’s electoral process and also to refrain from resorting to violence to state their case.

After all, elections are not a life-and-death situation as some have painted them to be, but just an exercise of every human being’s inalienable right to choose a leader to manage our resources for the good of the people.