The President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, says the numerous issues reported during the District Level Elections (DLE) cannot be described as mere “technical challenges.”

According to him, the Electoral Commission (EC) failed to ensure proper planning before the exercise.

Mr. Cudjoe pointed out that the Electoral Commission's assurances of being fully prepared for the election, make their claims of unexpected technical difficulties seem dubious.

"This whole conversation about technical issues for the lapses the EC had cannot be true. You see if they are saying that maybe someone’s name was misspelled or something on the ballot, maybe yes. You can’t tell me that 12 hours or 6 hours to the elections, you didn’t know that you didn’t have all the accoutrement.”

“These are not technical issues, they are just blatant disregard for the processes, it should have been ready two weeks earlier,” he said on Citi TV.

Mr. Cudjoe also criticised the Electoral Commission for its lack of collaboration with other stakeholders, such as political parties and civil society organizations.

 He stated that this "headstrong" approach often leads to problems that could have been avoided if there had been more consultation and cooperation.

“I don’t know why they would wake up and tell us recently that in the main 2024 polls, they will close polls at 3 pm. What kind of signs went into that type of decision?"

 “Well, if you are going to have an election and this District Level Elections is an example of some of the processes that were bungled, would you think that 3 pm should be applied to every polling station? Would you want to do something like that?” he asked.

Background.

One of the major challenges that occurred during the elections was the delay in the printing and delivery of ballot papers, which caused disruption and forced the Commission to reschedule elections in some electoral areas.

In addition, many polling stations experienced technical challenges with their verification machines, which slowed down the election process.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Edwin Vanderpuye the Ododiodio MP said the Electoral Commission was inefficient and unprepared which led to these avoidable problems.

“I will not give any excuses for the EC’s lack of preparedness. The EC was inefficient and ineffective in this particular election. We must call a spade a spade,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) has commended itself for the successful completion of the District Level Elections despite the various challenges that occurred during the process.