Election Situation Room records 42 incidents nationwide

The 2024 Election Situation Room (ESR) recorded a total of 42 incidents across the country.

They included illegalities and other acts of infractions and violence carried out during and after the voting process.

The ESR is a project operated by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the National Peace Council (NPC) to monitor this year's polls.

It, however, indicated that the elections were conducted in a conducive environment despite the recorded incidents.

The Chairman of the NPC, Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, disclosed this at a media briefing in Accra yesterday to draw the curtain on the operation of the project after the conduct of the 2024 polls.

Project

The ESR formed an integral part of an Electoral Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (E-MAM) project, supported by the EU and the US Agency for International Development.

It monitored, reported, analysed and facilitated responses to violent threats to the peaceful conduct of the elections.

The ESR deployed 510 observers across the country to monitor the elections.

Cases

The chairman cited the 42 incidents which included the Assemblies of God Polling Station (Code: H010304A) in the Abromem Electoral Area in the Asunafo South Constituency in the Ahafo Region, where a former district chief executive was alleged to have been moving around some polling stations, accompanied by five masked and armed police officers.

The chairman also mentioned an incident at the Ho Technical University - Ho-Have 2 (Code D121207) at the Bosontoe Electoral Area in the Ho Central Constituency, where a voter was caught taking a shot of his ballot paper after voting.

In the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Constituency in the Savannah Region, two polling stations had the faces of other parliamentary candidates belonging to another constituency.

The Ghana Police Service also confirmed a shooting incident at Iron City in the Awutu Senya East Constituency, which resulted in the death of one person and injury to another person.

Verification

The chairman, however, said that despite the reported incidents at some polling stations, the voting process was without major complaints and in accordance with the electoral process.

Out of the 1,952 reports on the voting process, 1,977 (98.7) per cent of voters on the electoral roll were verified through the Biometric Verification Device or manually.

Furthermore, Rev. Dr Adu-Gyamfi said 1,690 (86.6) per cent of the electorate were prevented from carrying their mobile phones or electronic gadgets to the voting booths.

He said that the ESR Decision Room had engaged the Electoral Commission, the National Election Security Task Force, political parties and other relevant stakeholders on the incidents.