Exercise patience, will of the people will prevail as expressed at the polls - EC

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has called on Ghanaians, particularly supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to remain patient as the commission awaits results from across the country for the official declaration.

In a media address on Sunday, December 8, the Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensah, explained that the process leading to the declaration of results is thorough and inclusive, involving all political parties and election observers.

She noted that it had only been 23 hours since the close of polls, and the commission has up to 72 hours to make an official announcement. Mrs Mensah urged Ghanaians to be patient and bear with the commission during this time.

"I'd like to ask that citizens exercise patience. It's just been 23 hours since the close of polls. The process is elaborate. It is inclusive. It involves the political parties and observers at every step and the whole idea is to ensure that what comes up at the end of the day has been as involved," she said.

"It's a bottom-up approach that has involved all the agents at all levels and at the end of the day, what comes up is acceptable by all the candidates and their supporters and the citizens as well. So this is the elaborate process we have and we thought that this afternoon, it was important to allay the fears and the anxieties of citizens." 

She continued: "The commission is going to intense and will uphold the will of the people as expressed at the polls and that will is what has been captured on the pink sheets. However, it's important that we exercise patience." 

"We take our time and we are very thorough in producing the results at the national level. As we speak, we have had results coming from Ahafo and we are expecting more results coming in in the next few hours."

She further attributed the delay to political parties, accusing them of inciting their supporters to gather at the various collation centers, which she said disrupted the process.

"Of course, if all the results come in the next hour and we review them, we would not wait until 72 hours or 48 hours before we do so. It's important to mention also that the delays in some of the coalition centers has resulted from the besieging of our centers by supporters of the parties."

"In the anxiety and in the excitement, some supporters of political parties have besieged our coalition offices,  making it difficult in some cases for our offices to carry out their functions," she said.

She explained further: "We have spoken directly with the leadership of the political parties and we've asked them to recall their supporters. We believe that this should be done and our staff should have unhindered access and the free space to collate the results. So as I mentioned, we are looking forward to seeing the results."