11 December 2008
Ghana once again has proved that she is the shining star of Africa having held very successful general elections last weekend.
All the foreign observers have expressed satisfaction at the conduct of the elections. Baroness Amos and Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim of the Commonwealth and African Union observer teams respectively have already spoken appreciatively of the polls and Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, Member of the European Parliament and leader of the European Union Election Observation Mission in Ghana (EU EOM) has also said that Ghana has conducted her elections in an open, transparent and competitive environment.
He said, "the 7 December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections have so far been conducted in an open, transparent and competitive environment, fundamental freedoms such as the right to stand for election, the right to vote and the freedom of assembly, expression and movement have been respected across Ghana in line with the country's international and regional commitments.
Key international and regional standards for elections were generally met and voters turned out in high numbers to cast their ballots"
The Electoral Commission he said organized the elections in a largely transparent and professional manner. Throughout the country its staff acted with impartiality and prepared for the election in a highly committed and competent manner.
In a preliminary statement issued in Accra Mr. Mladenov said "the Electoral Commission acted impartially and organized these elections in a transparent and highly competent manner...there was high degree of transparency on election day and the Electoral Commission made efforts to increase the consensus between political parties during the final month of the campaign.
The major political parties deployed their party agents to all polling stations and over 7,000 domestic observers were deployed to observe polling.
They played an important role in observing polling, counting, and the aggregation of results that provided an inclusive environment for scrutiny of procedures."
He said that the large majority of polling stations opened on time or within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, polling was generally orderly with voters patiently waiting to vote....overall procedures were complied with in almost all poling stations and polling staff were committed, professional and well trained, in all polling stations visited.
"In general the legal framework provides a good basis, for the conduct of democratic elections, the constitution guarantees fundamental freedoms and election related legislative provisions are generally in line with international standards.
In compliance with Ghana's international commitments, the legal framework guarantees the right to vote, be elected in periodic elections, as well as the freedom of association, assembly, movement and expression" he said.
EU EOM has been present in Ghana since November 1 2008 following an invitation from the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
The mission deployed 70 observers from 24 European Union Member States and Norway to all ten regions of the country to assess the electoral process against international and regional standards for elections as well as the laws of Ghana.
On Election Day, observers visited 466 polling stations in 70 of the 230 constituencies throughout Ghana to observe voting and counting.
EU EOM will remain in the country to observe post-election developments, the tabulation of the results and the run-off expected to be conducted on Sunday 28 December 2008.
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If this is true, it is a strategy in the right direction. The original campaign team was overbloated and full of deadweight(s). This lean and mean team has the potential to be more effective.
Well done Ghana for allowing citizens to freely choose the leaders. I think Africa will learn a lot from the Ghanaian case. Africa should learn that the advent of All Inclusive Gorvenments in some African countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe is a step towards autocracy; it's not democracy. Incumbents that lose elections should step down and not enter into some shaddy deals with the victors like Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Kibbaki of Kenya did. I think African democracies like Ghana, Senegal, Liberia and Siera Leone should establish a league of democracies in Africa where only African countries that completely adhere to democratic standards of holding elections are allowed to be members. I think the AU is quite useless as it as an all embracing organisation and the majority dictatorships in the AU are not willing to give democracy a chance.
Active Discussions: Ghana Election a Win for Democracy