Koku Anyidoho
Samuel Koku Anyidoho, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Atta-Mills Institute, has scored the Electoral Commission between 85-90 per cent for supervising a general election being hailed by both local and international observers as the best since the commencement of the Fourth Republic under the 1992 Constitution.
He said the organization of the presidential and parliamentary elections was far better compared to previous elections; and the EC chaired by Mrs. Jean Mensa and her team must be commended for a good work done.
The former NDC Deputy General Secretary whose institute was of the certified local observers, and monitored the elections in some seven regions, said their data showed the polls were generally peaceful and credible.
Mr. Anyidoho said the distribution of materials and the EC’s preparation was commendable despite the few negatives that were recorded, and said that the EC could not be blamed for the defeat of any party.
He said if a party failed to whip up their supporters to come out and vote and rather engaged in propaganda and lost, they had no business blaming the EC.
“What our team saw was a peaceful, orderly, free and fair and transparent polls. The electoral materials were sent to all the polling stations. I led a team to Volta Region and I did not see soldiers at polling stations as alleged. There was no intimidation in the region. If people failed to come and vote, it was due to propaganda,” he said.
“We need to move away from the bandwagon. If you are expecting more votes in your stronghold, you need 85% to come out and vote. The turnout in the Volta was not more than 70% and that is the stronghold of the NDC. If you do propaganda and the people don’t come out and vote, don’t blame anybody,” he added.
By Ernest Kofi Adu