Otokunor slams EU report on Ghana's 2020 election

Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Boamah Otokunor says the European Union’s Election Observation Mission Report (EU EOM) did not reflect the true state of Ghana's 2020 elections

He said the EU EOM report which was prepared without political parties never discussed with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and went to Parliament on the blind side of all political parties.

This according to him, can not be taken lightly because this report is an incorrect representation of Ghana’s election process yet plays a crucial role in the international space and can make and unmake the reputation of Ghana.

“They failed to accurately report and discuss all the issues and all the steps…If you look at the procedure, they actually went through the back door even in Parliament and that is where they encountered several problems and they had to go back and forth three times before the instrument was properly laid. So that problem itself was something that was supposed to be reported by the EU" he said as quoted by myjoyonline.

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Ghana 2020 released a press statement that talked about the final report on the December presidential and parliamentary elections.

According to the conclusion of the report, the 2020 election in Ghana was efficiently organised, competitive, saw voters participating freely in large numbers, and successfully met a range of international standards.

But commenting on the report, Mr. Otokunor stressed that the EU EOM failed to put in their report that some great number of eligible Ghanaians were prevented from partaking in the voting exercise

“…You cannot make that conclusion, you would have to put all the bits and pieces together as part of the process then you can make a conclusive statement on whether it was free and fair.

“We expected that the EU will report on some of these critical issues because you are doing comprehensive monitoring of the elections, so all the fallouts during the registration exercise; the stabbing of Silas Wulochamey in Banda, the shooting at Dormaa Central.

“These cannot be isolated, if this thing happened in any of the European Countries, it is a big deal, why is it an isolated situation in Ghana?”