A fellow at CDD-Ghana, Dr John Osae-Kwapong, says that the public’s low trust in the Electoral Commission (EC) is contributing to electoral misbehaviour by political parties.

The political scientist explained that the controversies surrounding the re-collation exercise by the EC in some constituencies arose because political parties feel compelled to protect the process themselves, given their lack of trust in the EC.

"This all boils down to trust, and I've said this repeatedly. If you look at the conduct of our political parties in this electoral process, the need to protect the ballot and safeguard the integrity of the election comes down to the lack of trust," he said.

"I'm still not sure what keeps fuelling this cycle of trust and mistrust that we see from one election to the next. But for me, what drives the state of affairs is that, because trust levels are so low, political parties feel the need to engage in what I call extrajudicial activities to ensure they are not cheated," he added.

Dr Osae-Kwapong further believes that, for political parties, this is the only way to remain vigilant. "So, if it means calling on their supporters to be extra vigilant at collation centres and polling stations, then that transparent nature of the collation process helps build confidence in the electoral system,

However, the core issue of trust forces our parties to bear the burden of believing that if they don’t engage in intense oversight, they will be cheated."

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday with Samson Lardy, regarding the ongoing re-collation of results in Accra from some constituencies in the December 7 elections, Dr Osae-Kwapong said some of these controversies could be resolved through proper dialogue.

"The Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) is a good platform to reconcile some of these issues, but it just seems that the mistrust is not going anywhere. Honestly, I don't know how you can get the parties to start rebuilding some of the trust they’ve lost in the EC," he said.

The re-collation of results from certain constituencies is currently ongoing in Accra. The exercise has been embroiled in controversy, with the two main parties, the NDC and NPP, disputing the results.

This situation has also led to the vandalism of EC offices among other state facilities and equipment in some areas, as well as clashes between supporters of the two parties, resulting in destruction and injuries.