ECOWAS Election Observation Mission advance team arrives in Accra

Ahead of Ghana’s December 7 general election, an advance team of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Election Observation Mission has arrived in Accra.

The advanced long-term ECOWAS Election Observer team is made of five core members, who will be based in Accra and 16 long-term observers, who would be deployed to all the 16 regions of Ghana.

This will be followed by the deployment of 90 short-term ECOWAS Election Observers on the 2nd or 3rd December.

In all, more than hundred ECOWAS Election Observers would be observing Ghana’s December 7 general election.

Mr. Serigne Mamadou Ka, Head, Electoral Assistance Division of ECOWAS, made the disclosure in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on the sidelines of his team’s courtesy call on Mr. Mohammed Lawan Gana, Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Ghana.

Mr. Ka noted that the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Ghana would be led by Mr. Namadi Sambo, a former Vice President of Nigeria.

He noted that Mr. Sambo would be arriving in Accra either on the 2nd or 3rd of December to lead the ECOWAS Election Observers Mission to Ghana.

He said the 90 short-term ECOWAS Election Observers were coming closer to the election just to observe the electoral process and then they would also be deployed throughout all the 16 regions of Ghana.

Mr. Ka appealed to Ghanaians to ensure that the December 7 general election was peaceful, free, fair and credible.

“What we want is just peaceful elections. An election is an event that is constitutionally mandated. When it comes, everyone wants to win. But at the end of the day, only one winner and the others will have to follow,” he stated.

“So, we are just appealing for peaceful conduct of the electoral process, for peace to reign in Ghana and throughout this region. Let the winner be the person that the people have chosen.”

Mr. Gana, Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Ghana, told the GNA that the ECOWAS wants Ghanaians to deliver another credible, free and fair election.

On his message to Ghanaians, Mr. Gana said: “Please let’s have a peaceful credible election. Ghana is also an embodiment; it is a demonstrating country to show that democracy has entrenched in Ghana.

“So, we want it to be sustained, we want the election to be peaceful and to be a model for other countries in the ECOWAS subregion.”

Ghanaians are going to the polls on December 7 to elect a President and 276 legislators.

Twelve candidates are vying for the presidency, of which the leading contenders are former President John Dramani Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The NPP is campaigning on its legacy of Free Senior High School (SHS) education, while the NDC is campaigning on the hard economic conditions facing Ghanaians, hence its call for resetting of the country.

Constitutionally, the Electoral Commission (EC) is expected by law to declare the winner of the Presidential Election within 72 hours after the close of polls.

Source: GNA

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