CODEO calls on EC to address computational errors of the elections result
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to address underlying issues relating to computational errors identified in the presidential election results.
It said the EC should move beyond “passive publication of a press release” and hold a public event so as to allay any lingering concerns and doubts which have emerged since the declaration of the results last week.
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In a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday, it also asked the EC to ensure that source documents signed by the political parties, which supported the instrument of declaration, were consistent with the tally sheet for the collation of the presidential results.
“ We finds these computational errors on the part of the EC very unfortunate, as they create room for doubt about the integrity of the presidential election results declared by the Commission on December 9, 2020 and other disputed parliamentary results,” it said.
Signed by Albert Arhin, CODEO National Coordinator, the statement was to address misconceptions about its post-election statement, issued last week, which said the Coalition’s Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) estimates were consistent with EC’s declared results.
The PVT is a scientific election observation technique that combines statistical principles and digital tools to observe elections through the deployment of trained observers to polling stations.
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The Coalition and EC have come under criticism after the EC, admitted that its Chairperson, Jean Mensa, inadvertently used 13,433,573 as the total valid votes cast instead of 13,119,460, stating that the error did not change the declaration that President Nana Akufo- Addo won the election with 51 per cent.
However, according to CODEO, the post-declaration errors detected and corrected by the EC did not affect the Coalition’s PVT estimates as the correction still fell within the confidence range of its PVT estimates arrived at from results provided by 1502 election observers deployed to selected polling stations.
It gave an assurance that its PVT methodology was a credible methodology, having been used since 2008 to confirm EC results and even tendered in as part of the evidence affirming the accuracy of the 2012 results declared by EC.
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CODEO expressed dismay by the unwarranted online attacks on its Acting Chair, Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu, who also happens to be the spokesperson for the Office of the National Chief Imam.
“The views expressed by Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu on the PVT findings do not represent the view of the Office of the National Chief Imam or his personal view, but rather the collective decision of the CODEO Advisory Board representing the 42-member organisations of CODEO,” it said.
While condemning electoral violence which occurred and calling for swift investigation and punishment of offenders, CODEO urged all aggrieved parties to resort to peaceful and lawful avenues and processes to seek redress.
