CSOs Present Lessons from Ghana Presidential Election

Chuks Okocha in Abuja  

Ripples of last week’s presidential election in Ghana continued as Civil Society organisations yesterday presented lessons  from the Ghana presidential election to Nigeria and other African countries to learn.

Reading the lessons  from the Ghana presidential election, Chairman of Yiaga Africa, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi and                                     Samson  Itodo Chair, ESOM Delegation to Ghana and Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, said that the culture of respect for democratic institutions by different stakeholders strengthens democracy and promotes active citizenship including agents of party and independent candidates in ballot printing to monitor the production deepens confidence in the electoral process. 

According to Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, who read the report, ‘’Uniquely to this cycle, the electoral commission opened up the ballot printing process to the media, in an effort to enhance transparency in the process.”

She said that the Ghana’s presidential election was based on “Campaigns focused on direct voter mobilisation through door-to-door outreach, social media, SMS, and phone calls, reducing reliance on street rallies and contributing to a more orderly campaign period.

‘’Allowing political party agents to affix party-labeled seals with distinct colors and serial numbers on ballot boxes enhances security and builds trust in the electoral process.

The verification of results by party agents at the national collation center strengthens openness of the collation process and it facilitates active stakeholder participation 

Ensuring that voters without a verification ID can still vote, provided their names appear on the voter register, helps reduce voter disenfranchisement.

‘’Voice prompts such as “Rejected” or “Verified” on the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) allow voters and party agents to monitor the voter verification process. Special voting, proxy voting and prisoners voting protects voting rights and enables increased citizens participation in elections

‘’Independent candidacy promotes political inclusion by promoting greater representation of suppressed and marginalised voices.  It also increases electoral choices, providing voters with alternatives. The combination of the name, photographs and symbols the ballot paper ensures clarity and it assists voters in making informed choices.’’

Dr. Abdullahi said that the provision of tissue boxes in voting cubicles reduced smears on ballot papers, explaining that ‘’The absence of movement restrictions on election day allows citizens to vote freely without hindrances. It also enables small-scale businesses to operate, ensuring economic activities continue without a total shutdown.’’

Also, she said: ‘’Systematic, professional and data-driven parallel tallying of results by political parties ensures oversight and promotes acceptability of electoral outcomes. Regular press statements and briefings by the Electoral Commission and Ghana Police Service build public confidence and mitigate misinformation and fake news.’’

She listed other issues that led to the transparency in the election, include: ‘’Transparency and responsiveness in election administration builds citizens’ trust: Public trust in Ghana’s Electoral Commission was low before the election due to concerns over allegation of partisan appointments, weak stakeholder engagement, voter register inaccuracies, and ballot paper issues. Despite this, the Commission demonstrated resilience by addressing stakeholder concerns, particularly from political parties.

‘’Proactive measures, including cleaning the voter register, issuing copies to political parties, involving party representatives in ballot printing, and destroying faulty ballots, reduced suspicion, enhanced transparency, and restored public confidence in the electoral process.

‘’Affixing seals on ballot boxes protects the credibility of the voting process: Political party agents in Ghana affix their serially numbered and color-coded seals on ballot boxes after the Electoral Commission’s seal, ensuring the boxes remain secure and unopened, thereby safeguarding the voting process.

‘’Inclusive voter verification processes reduce voter disenfranchisement: Ghana’s electoral guidelines allow manual verification for voters without ID cards, provided their names appear on the register. The Biometric Verification Device (BVD) records all verified voters, ensuring transparency. During verification, the devices scan a QR code on the voter register to call up the voter data. enabling individuals to vote even without their voter cards.

‘’Format of ballot papers improves voting choices and reduces invalidated votes: Ballot papers include candidates’ names, photographs, symbols, and party colors, providing clarity and enabling voters to make informed choices, thus reducing invalid votes.

‘’Verification of transmitted results by party agents strengthens election integrity: The national collation of presidential results includes a verification process that enhances transparency and accountability. Regional results are sent via fax to the national collation center, printed, and allotted 20 minutes for party agents to verify and raise objections where discrepancies arise. This process builds trust in the final results.

‘’Limited electronic transmission of results could impact public confidence: Electronic transmission of results is restricted to regional presidential results sent via fax to the national collation center using 16 fax machines. Polling station results (“pink sheets”) are not accessible online, which limits transparency. Adopting technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to upload results online in real-time would improve public confidence and serve as a backup in cases of disputes or destroyed pink sheets during collation.

‘’Systematic Parallel Tallying of results by political parties deescalates tension: Major political parties’ parallel result tallying enhances oversight, rigor, and trust in the process. The ability to track real-time trends reduces tension and increases acceptance of results. The concession speech by the NPP candidate, informed by parallel tallying, highlights its role in ensuring peaceful outcomes.

‘’Special voting and proxy voting protects citizens’ rights to vote: Ghana promotes inclusiveness by accommodating election officials, security personnel, and media through special voting. Held on December 2 and 6, 2024, special voting saw 131,478 participants with an 83% turnout, ensuring those in critical roles are not disenfranchised.

‘’Additionally, proxy voting allows registered voters unable to vote due to illness, disability, work, education, or overseas residence to appoint a proxy. A total of 2,141 voters were approved for proxy voting. Applications must be submitted 42 days before the election to ensure participation.

‘’Prisoners’ voting improves electoral inclusiveness: In 2010, Ghana’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling affirming the right of remand and convicted prisoners to vote. To implement this decision, the court directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to draft a constitutional instrument (CI) establishing the legal framework for including prisoners on the voters’ register for the 2024 general elections. This effort reflects Ghana’s commitment to inclusiveness and the principle that no citizen should be denied the right to vote on the basis of incarceration.

‘’Political literacy influenced electoral politics and voting choices: Ghanaian voters demonstrated high political literacy and sophistication in electing candidates. The 2024 campaigns were less acrimonious compared to 2020, focusing on issue-based 

Recommendations for Nigeria and other Africa election management bodies, she said include, ‘’Election management Bodies (EMBs) should review the format of ballot papers used in elections to include photographs and names of candidates to improve the quality of electoral preferences.

Commit to greater transparency through proactive disclosure of election information, including integrating political party representatives, civil society, and media in election procurement processes.

‘’Leverage technology and adopt the ethical use of artificial intelligence to enhance the integrity of voter register, voter authentication, election results collation processes.’’

She further said that ‘’Political parties and candidates and Political stakeholders should demonstrate a firm commitment to democracy and nation-building by upholding national values such as patriotism, integrity and public interest in electoral politics.’’

On National parliamentary election, the leader of the civil society groups called for the amendment of  the necessary electoral legal frameworks to introduce prisoners’ voting and special voting for eligible voters performing essential election duties (e.g., security personnel, electoral staff, observers, journalists), ensuring their constitutional right to vote is upheld.

Also, she said: “Establish a standing mechanism to routinely review elections in an open, consensus-driven manner upon completion, ensuring that actionable recommendations for reforms are identified and implemented.’’

Giving highlights of the election, she said: ‘’On December 7, 2024, Ghana conducted its ninth presidential and parliamentary elections since returning to multiparty democracy in 1992. A total of 18.7 million registered voters were expected to vote across 40,648 polling stations in 276 constituencies spanning the country’s 16 regions.

 ‘’Fifteen political parties presented candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections however for the presidential election, there were 12 presidential candidates (11 male and 1 female) of which one  of them were independent candidates. Meanwhile, 801 parliamentary candidates contested seats in 276 constituencies. Of these figure, 119 female candidates, representing 14.9 per cent of parliamentary candidates, and 682 male candidates, representing 85.1 per cent of parliamentary candidates.’’

The following civil society groups that were accredited by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), monitored the election. They include, Yiaga Africa deployed an Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM) from 3rd – 10th December 2024 to understudy the electoral governance architecture in Ghana, with a specific interest in the election results management system. 

The mission also studied the role of electoral technology in the Ghana 2024 general elections and observed the trends and patterns of citizens’ participation. Yiaga Africa undertook the mission as part of its Transforming Electoral Governance in Africa initiative (TEGA) project to enable democratic societies and institutions to reimagine electoral governance through evidence-based learning, documentation and advocacy. 

The 12-person delegation led by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi (former, African Union Commissioner of Political Affairs), included:

Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, Chairman, Nigerian Senate Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters, National Assembly

Hon. Prince Adebayo Balogun, Chairman, Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, National Assembly

Barr. Afam Osigwe SAN, President, Nigerian Bar Association, Bonolo Magkale, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Mr. Majeed Bakare – Premium Times Newspaper, Ijeoma Osamor – Broadcaster and TV anchor, African Independent Television (AIT), Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Olusegun Ogundare, African Head, Operations and Research Ibrahim Farouk, Africa Programme Coordinator   Gifty Quarshie – Programme Assistant.