The Coalition for Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has announced its plan to deploy 4,000 observers nationwide for the upcoming December 7 elections.
According to the Co-Chair of CODEO, Mrs Elizabeth Villars, the observers would monitor the conduct of the polls- from the opening to voting, counting and declaration of results at selected polling stations.
Also, she said the observers would assist in gathering information on the conduct of the polls, and to help make independent assessments of the processes and outcomes.
Mrs Villars made this known at the launch of CODEO’s 2024 Election Observation Activities and the Kick-Off of CODEO’s cascade training for observers for the election in Accra Yesterday.
She added that CODEO had also recruited 31 regional coordinators from across the 16 regions to help manage their election day deployment.
Mrs Villars, said CODEO since its inception in 2000, had committed itself to promoting electoral integrity and ensuring that democratic values were upheld throughout the electoral processes.
She added that its election observation work was always accompanied by civic and voter education, election conflict monitoring, mediation and peace-building,
extensive engagement with key electoral stakeholders, and advocacy for electoral reforms.
Highlighting the success of CODEO, she said the coalition had embarked on a comprehensive observation strategy aimed at fostering credible, free, fair, transparent, and peaceful electoral outcomes.
“Our interventions cover the entire electoral cycle, with activities targeting electoral reforms, the pre-election, election day activities and post-election phases of the 2024 elections,” she said.
Having ensured improvements in the overall administration of the electoral process after a period of incremental electoral reforms, however, she said challenges still remained and threaten credible and peaceful elections in 2024.
The Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Eric Bossman Asare, reassured the public that the 2024 general election would be a successful one.
He stated that, the EC had doubled down all the measures it took in 2020 that support its efforts in making the election process transparent and successful.
Dr Asare said the commission had taken necessary steps to address some concerns raised and to increase the level of checks and balances in the electoral processes.
These steps, he said, included increasing the number of individuals checking and making sure all verifications were correct to five.
He said they would employ someone with statistics and mathematical background to support with the coalition, among others.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Virginia Palmer, said there was no greater right or responsibility for citizens in a democracy than the exercise of voting, so to protect that right, there was the need to ensure elections were “peaceful, transparent, and credible.”
“As Ghana approaches December 7, I salute its legacy of peaceful elections and transfers of power and tolerance of dissenting voices. And again, that is such an important model for this region, this continent, and beyond. I applaud the calls for peaceful elections that many Ghanaians have already made.
