The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced plans to strengthen the transmission and management of election results ahead of future elections through a review of Constitutional Instrument 127 (C.I. 127), which regulates the conduct of elections in Ghana.
The Commission’s Director of Electoral Services, Samuel Dottoh Kwaah, disclosed the planned reforms during an inter-party dialogue organised by the National Peace Council in Accra.
According to him, the review is intended to address challenges encountered during the 2024 general elections and improve the security, transparency and efficiency of the election results transmission process.
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Mr Kwaah said the Commission plans to introduce a dedicated online portal through which scanned copies of election results can be transmitted while retaining the existing physical results.
He explained that the proposed system would help address disruptions at collation centres and provide an additional mechanism for securing and managing election results.
“There’s a need to address some of the challenges from now on. In addressing some of these challenges, we have to come out with certain policies and plans to ensure that we don’t entertain what happened in 2024,” he said on August 11.
He said the process would begin with reforms at collation centres, particularly in response to incidents involving ballot papers and result forms during the 2024 elections.
According to Mr Kwaah, the EC did not have a dedicated portal for transmitting scanned results during the 2024 elections.
“Going forward, the Commission plans to ensure that scanned results will be sent to a dedicated portal. When that happens, there’s a need to review C.I. 127, which regulates the conduct of general elections,” he said.
The EC official said political parties would be invited to submit their views and recommendations once the Commission has completed its internal review of C.I. 127.
He stressed that the proposed digital transmission system would not replace the physical results, which would continue to be maintained as part of the electoral process.
The proposed reforms are expected to strengthen the protection of election results while improving the speed and efficiency of their transmission and management.
The initiative could also provide political parties and other stakeholders with greater opportunities to monitor the results process and contribute to improvements in Ghana’s electoral framework.
However, the Electoral Commission has not yet announced a specific timeline for completing the review of C.I. 127 or launching the proposed results transmission portal.