EC considering reducing voting time by one hour

The Electoral Commission (EC) is considering the idea of reducing the voting time from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., instead of the 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. that has been the case in all elections over the years.

The move is to allow for counting of ballots and collation of results before night falls and to facilitate the early declaration of election results.

That, ultimately, will help reduce the tension and suspicion that manifest when the nation is waiting for the results of general elections.

The Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa, announced this at a three-day international conference on election-related violence in Accra yesterday.

The conference, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Secretariat, is to create a forum to discuss how to mitigate or prevent election-related violence in the sub-region.

In the course of the three days, participating member states, civil society and regional organisations will make short presentations to share experiences and good practices in a bid to ensure peaceful elections.

The conference has become imperative due to the fact that in 2020 and 2021, 10 African countries will go to the polls to elect presidents and legislators.

Commenting on the current duration of voting, Mrs Mensa said voters usually waited until a few hours or minutes for polls to close before joining the queues.

That, she said, usually took the end of voting, counting and collation into the night and compromised the security of ballot boxes and electoral officers.

Changing the time, she added, would, on the whole, inure to the benefit of Ghana's electoral system and engender peace during polls.

Mrs Mensa said to further ensure peace during the 2020 general election, the EC had begun early engagement with the security services on the provision of adequate security during the period and also the identification of flashpoints for appropriate action.

As part of efforts to eliminate violence during the 2020 polls, she said, the commission had introduced a quarterly dialogue with key stakeholders, namely, the media, civil society, religious and traditional authorities, to provide them with the needed information which could be relayed to the public timeously to reduce election-related tension.

She gave an overview of the events that had occurred since the current leadership of the EC took office, such as the referendum on the creation of new regions and the Ayawaso West Wuogon (AWW) bye-election, which resulted in violence and unprecedented display of vigilantism and hooliganism, and was particularly pleased to note that a law had been passed to outlaw political party vigilantism.

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The Chairperson of the EC expressed the hope that the law would help eliminate vigilantism.

She further indicated that the EC had learnt important lessons from the AWW violence and vigilantism and instituted measures to eliminate violence in 2020, adding that one of such measures was the institutionalisation of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).

"We now have monthly IPAC meetings which create a forum for dialogue between the EC and the political parties on matters concerning elections.

“We had a somewhat shaky start, but consistent interaction and dialogue have led to improvement in relations. We will continue to engage the political parties throughout the electoral cycle," Mrs Mensa stressed.

The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Ghana, Ms Ekra Sylvia Lopes, noted that the sub-region had witnessed instability, some which had been sparked by elections or election-related processes.

She said genuine, credible and inclusive elections consolidated democracy and promoted human rights, noting that there was a direct link among violent-free elections, peace and development

Ms Lopes said it was, therefore, important that measures be put in place to ensure peaceful, free, fair and credible elections in the sub-region.