The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has urged political parties, their leaders and the entire political class to take adequate measures to bridge the extreme political polarization gap that exists in Ghana.
They believe that in doing this, the tendency for winner takes all will be reduced.
This was contained in their preliminary statement on Ghana’s December 7 to 8, 2012 Presidential and general elections.
Below is the full report.
INTRODUCTION
On Friday, December 07, 2012, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), which comprises 40 professional, religious and civic advocacy bodies, deployed about 4,500 trained, accredited, non-partisan rapid response observers. Of this figure, 1,500 were Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) Observers. These observers are Ghanaians, from every walk of life, who have volunteered their time to help ensure that every registered voter can freely cast his or her ballot on election-day. This enabled the people of Ghana to have independent non-partisan information on the conduct of these elections. CODEO PVT Observers were stationed at 1,500 nationally representative sample of polling stations spread across the 275 constituencies located in the 10 regions of Ghana.
This preliminary post-election statement reflects CODEO’s observations on the conduct of the presidential and general elections. It incorporates some of the observations noted in the two statements issued by CODEO on election-day regarding the setting-up, opening and closing of polls, and the overall voting and counting process on Friday, December 07 and on Saturday, December 08, 2012 respectively.
CODEO has received reports from 99% of its observers. This statement is a synthesis of reports filed by the 1,500 PVT observers, the Constituency Supervisors (CSs) and Regional Coordinators (RCs).
SUMMARY OF OBSERVATION
Preliminary analysis of reports from CODEO PVT Observers suggests that the December 07, 2012 Presidential and General elections were conducted largely in accordance with the electoral laws of Ghana. Relatively few problems and lapses were encountered in the set-up and opening of polls.