By Vivian Amoah
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, has appealed to Ghanaians for patience as less than 72 hours have passed since the polls closed following the recent election.
During her media updates at the headquarters of the Electoral Commission on the election results, she emphasised the intricate nature of the collation process.
She said, “Exercise patience; it has only been 23 hours since the close of polls. The process is very elaborate. Within 72 hours, we should be able to declare the presidential results.”
Additionally, Jean Mensa, emphasised the importance of keeping the public informed about the collation process of election results. She noted that transparency was enhanced by providing all political parties with copies of pink sheets at the polling station level.
Moreover, she outlined the Electoral Commission’s collation process, which includes involvement from political party agents at each stage. She highlighted that collation also involves observers, the media, and citizens, with the pink sheets serving as the basis of the process. After ballot papers are counted at polling stations and parties confirm the accuracy of the count, they proceed to complete the pink sheets. Party agents then sign these sheets, receive copies, and have them posted at all polling stations nationwide for transparency.
Furthermore, Jean Mensa explained that after the pink sheets are received, they are forwarded to the constituency collation centre where party agents are present. She clarified that no counting takes place at the collation centre; instead, the focus is on aggregating results from the pink sheets.
The collation of results at the constituency level occurs in the presence of party agents, observers, and media partners, as emphasised by Mensa. She highlighted the importance of patience from the Ghanaian populace to ensure a thorough and accurate collation process.
