The Electoral Commission addressed a press conference on Monday, October 25, 2021, primarily to respond to recent allegations leveled against it by former President John Dramani Mahama.
The former President on his recent ‘Thank You’ tours has slammed the EC and its chairperson, Jean Mensah, over the conduct of the 2020 General Elections which he has classed as the worst under the fourth Republic.
The presser addressed by deputy EC Chairperson Bossman Asare refuted all allegations leveled by Mahama with evidence in their possession but also demanded that the former President avails whatever evidence he has to back his allegations.
Overall, the EC asked for evidence on four major allegations. On the issue of a million thumb-printed ballot papers in favour of the incumbent, ballot stuffing, role of the military in results declaration and why EC should be blamed for electoral violence.
GhanaWeb gleans the exact words of Bossman Asare on each demand for evidence:
Where is your evidence on 1 million ballots?
The Former President has said the EC thumb printed 1 million ballots in favor of the president. This is untrue. This is a grave matter that undermines the credibility of our electoral process and should not be ignored.
We call on him to provide evidence to support his claim. This is not a matter to be ignored and we call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate this.
Provide evidence on ballot stuffing
The transparency of our processes from the beginning to the end makes this impossible. Ballot Stuffing cannot be done-it is impossible. We call on the Former President in the interest of our democracy to provide evidence of the stuffing of the ballot boxes by the EC.
The Police should investigate this as a matter of urgency due to its potential to derail and undermine our democracy, and lead to a lack of confidence in our systems and processes.
Substantiate allegations on military role in results declaration
We call on the good people of Ghana to disregard this allegation of the military influencing the declaration and announcement of results as it is false and untrue.
In the interest of our democracy we call on the Former President to provide evidence of where the influence by the Military occurred.
We have also noted that the Former President has called the 2020 elections the worst elections. We refute his scoring. The good people of Ghana who experienced our processes are the best judges.
Provide evidence as to why security issues are the EC’s fault
To lay the security lapses at the doorstep of the EC is unfortunate.
While we sympathize with the family members of the deceased, we reject any attempt to associate the violence with us.
Again, we call on the former president in the interest of our democracy to provide evidence that the EC orchestrated the violence.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com