AU Lauds Ghana Vote

(PANA)--The African Union (AU) Observer Mission Tuesday commended the Sunday presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana, saying the West African country had distinguished itself in Africa by demonstrating that it is possible to run elections without violence.

‘Ghana has become a shining example at the time when Africa is passing through difficult times in efforts to consolidate democracy,’ Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, head of the AU Observer Team, said at a news conference. Salim said Ghana’s elections were also a big relief to Africa after recent election violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe. He said the team was impressed with the patience, resilience and high turnout by the Ghanaian electorate during the polls, which proved the country’s political maturity.

According to him, the voting process was conducted peacefully and orderly with much vigilance and enthusiasm from both voters and the civil society. He said polls also showed the exercise of democracy without fear or favour, describing the process as most inspiring. He called for patience for the Electoral Commission (EC) to release the final results, adding that the constitutional provisions indicated that the EC had 72 hours to declare the results and there was no cause for worry, since the EC had not exceeded its mandatory time.

Salim also advised political parties to exercise restraint, have confidence in the EC and avoid declaring the results ahead of the EC. The team recommended to the EC to create additional polling stations in order to reduce the long queues during voting in future elections to manageable sizes. Meanwhile, with results from 202 out of 230 constituencies declared at the collation centres, Nana Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has secured 49.10 per cent while the main opposition candidate, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills scored 47.95 per cent. The other six candidates are training well behind.

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