Electorate will determine winner, not EC — Dr Quarcoe

The Director of Training at the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Serebour Quarcoe, has stated that the electorate will determine the winner of the December 7 polls, not the EC.

He made it clear that the casting of ballots at the polling stations, determines the next president and parliamentarians; stating that the EC only facilitated the process and declared the person duly elected by the electorate.

Dr Quarcoe was speaking at the Reflections on Security Symposium organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.

It was on the theme: "Protecting the Ballot: Deepening Democracy".

Present at the symposium were the Commandant of KAIPTC, Major General Richard Addo-Gyane; the Deputy Chairman of the National Commission on Civic Education, Victor Brobbey; Co Chair of Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, Rev. Dr Fred Deegbe; the acting Head of Electoral Assistance Division of ECOWAS, Serigne Mamadou Ka, among others.

Best elections

The EC Director of Training indicated that this year's election would be the best ever as the EC had put in place the necessary measures and involved stakeholders every step of the way.

"We have approximately 41,000 polling stations going into this election. We have trained election observers, and all political parties will have their polling agents at the polling stations also to supervise the elections on behalf of their parties," he stated.

Dr Quarcoe called on Ghanaians to psych themselves towards the outcome of the election as only one candidate can be declared winner of the election.

"Ghanaians must psych themselves because we will have only one winner at the end of the election which should not warrant any blame games," he stated.

Security

For his part, the Director of Operations at the Ghana Police Service Headquarters, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Al-Meyao Abass Kwarasey, affirmed the security agency's preparedness for the election.

"We have patrol teams, quick response teams and standby teams to take care of incidents. For the first time, the Election Security Taskforce has established a Press Centre where the media will be briefed in time about incidents to coordinate information sharing to ensure a peaceful election," ACP Kwarasey said.

Responsibility

In his opening remarks, Major General Addo-Gyane, said the country had successfully organised eight different elections bouncing from a troubled West African State into a beacon of democracy.

He urged all stakeholders to conduct themselves in a manner that preserved the peace and security of the country.

Maj. Gen. Addo Gyane called on the EC, the judiciary, political parties and security agencies to ensure the structures put in place worked to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. 

He also appealed against deliberate disinformation, misinformation and hate speech from all quarters especially on social media to avoid triggering violence during the election period.