The Coalition of Domestic Election Observer (CODEO) has expressed its readiness to deploy 4,000 observers for the Monday, December 7, 2020 elections in Ghana.
Acting Chairman of CODEO, Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu, made this known to the media on Sunday, December 6, 2020.
He said the 4,000 observers will be deployed in all 275 constituencies in the 16 regions of Ghana.
He said CODEO’s primary and broad objective was to complement the efforts of Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC), and indeed all stakeholders, and as well mobilize citizens as active participants in ensuring transparent, free, fair, inclusive and peaceful elections in the country.
According to him, as in previous elections, CODEO’s election observation activities have covered the pre-election phase, including observation of the compilation of a fresh biometric voters’ register, observation and reporting on the pre-election campaign and voter education environment, election/polling day phase, and post-election phase.
CODEO Election Day Observation Deployment.
“The total number of CODEO 4000 observers will be deployed as Rapid Response Observers (RROs) to a representative sample of polling stations located in all the 275 constituencies across the 16 regions of the country. Out of this number, 1502 are deployed as Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) Observers.
• Roaming/Mobile Observation: CODEO Roaming Observers
In addition to CODEO stationary observers, CODEO will deploy its Regional Coordinators, Constituency Supervisors (CS), its General Assembly and Board Members as Roaming/Mobile Observers (ROs) in all the 16 regions.”
“Observing the Constituency Collation Centers
CODEO will deploy its observers to all the 275 Constituency Collation Centers and the National Results Collation Center (NRCC) in Accra to observe and report on results collation, tabulation, and declaration.”
“CODEO’s Deployment Plan CODEO’s deployment and observation plan makes it possible for CODEO’s presence across the entire country. Applying statistical principles of stratified random sampling procedure to select polling stations where CODEO’s RROs will be stationed makes it possible for CODEO’s visibility to be felt in every region and constituency, including the remotest and difficult to-reach- parts of Ghana, generally referred to as ‘overseas.’”
“As already stated, CODEO, in addition to traditional observation, will employ the PVT methodology to enable it provide the most comprehensive and accurate account of the set-up of polling stations, voting and counting process. The PVT is a proven methodology used by independent, non-partisan citizen observers to assess the quality of the election process across the country. As an advanced observation methodology that builds on the traditional election observation method, and using time-tested statistical principles, the methodology will enable CODEO to independently verify the accuracy of the vote tabulation process and the official.”
“To be sure that CODEO observers were adequately trained and prepared, they were taken through the legal framework for elections, code of conduct for observers, what to observe at the polling stations and collation centers, COVID-19 pandemic safety precautions, and personal security, among others. The 4000 observers were also taken through simulation exercises during the trainings, and as well on December 3 and 5 ahead of the polling day.
Officials from Ghana’s Electoral Commission were present to offer training on voting procedures and what observers should be looking out for during observation. All trained CODEO observers were recruited from member organizations and precautions were taken to ensure that recruited members were strictly non-partisan and professional.”
“All CODEO Observers have received accreditation from the EC. CODEO appreciates the support and collaboration it has received from the Electoral Commission in training its observers and for the accreditation process.
Indeed, CODEO received many requests from ordinary Ghanaians wanting to participate as observers, and the enthusiasm is truly appreciated.”
CODEO is a member of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM), and thus subscribes to the “Declaration of Global Principles for Non-Partisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations.”
CODEO observers were trained on these global principles as part of the preparations, and all CODEO Observers were made to sign a pledge of neutrality and non-partisanship, which has been documented, he said.
“The CODEO observers will also be carrying a CODEO embossed black bags. CODEO stationary RROs will report at their assigned polling stations at 6:00AM and stay at the polling stations until the end of official declaration of the ballot count. They will observe the polling station and process set-up, voting and counting procedures, declaration of votes count, and also file reports on any incidents they observe throughout the day.
Similarly, CODEO Mobile Observers will visit a number of polling stations where there are no deployed CODEO stationary observer in assigned constituencies and file regular observation reports based on their findings.
CODEO will also observe Constituency Collation Centers and report on the processes of collation of results.”
“On the polling day, CODEO observers will report their findings using Short Message Service (SMS) technology to the CODEO National Information Center (NIC) located at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC). From the NIC, CODEO will be releasing regular statements on the observation of the polling process. CODEO has developed a system where CODEO observers will be able to rapidly transmit their observation reports at designated time periods to the CODEO National Information Center. This system of reporting will enable CODEO to quickly and thoroughly analyze the conduct of voting around the country.”
By Melvin Tarlue