Help reduce tension - Peace Council Chairperson

An Electoral Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (EMAM) Election Situation Room has urged international observer missions in the country to continue to engage stakeholders to help reduce the prevailing tension in the country after a successful general election last Monday.

The Chairman of the National Peace Council (NPC), Reverend Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, who is a spokesperson of ENAM, was speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, December 8.

This was after both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had held separate pressers claiming to have won the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Concerns

Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi expressed concern over the press conference and counter-press conferences by the two main parties, saying “we would like to reiterate that the EC is the only constitutionally mandated institution with the responsibility of the presidential election”.

“We, therefore, call on all actors involved to respect and adhere to the laws of the country and exercise patience as the EC undertakes its mandate,” he added.

The spokesperson urged the national elections security taskforce to “respond to the situation we are in, respond appropriately”.

The group also asked the media to be circumspect in their reportage on the ongoing counting and collation processes.

Declaration

Responding to a question by a journalist on the inability of the EC to declare the presidential and parliamentary results within 24 hours as it had promised, Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi said the setting of goals was within the remit of the EC.

“The EC made it clear that even though it committed itself to declare the results in 24 hours, it was not cast in stone,” he said.

According to him, regional directors of the EC were those collating the presidential results in the 16 regions.

As a result, the EC had to wait for the results from all the 16 regions instead of the 275 constituencies as it used to be, and, therefore, appealed to the people to be patient.

The spokesperson thanked the people for their understanding and patriotism in turning out to vote for their choice of candidates.

Background

The Election Situation Room (ESR) is a component of EMAM, funded by the European Union (EU).

It is being implemented in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).

It is coordinated by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and its partner, the NPC.

Writer’s E-mail: caroline.boateng@graphic.com.gh