2008 Ghana Elections - Departure Statement

Ghana 2008 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections

Departure Statement by Rt. Hon Baroness Valerie Amos

Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group

4 January 2009

The presidential and parliamentary elections were significant and transitional in terms of Ghana’s maturing democracy. We have now completed our Report which will be forwarded to the Commonwealth Secretary-General who will make it public in due course. We will be leaving Ghana today. I therefore wish to make this ‘Departure Statement’ on behalf of the Group.

Our Interim Statements on the 7 December and 28 December polls issued on 9 December and 30 December respectively, gave the Commonwealth Observer Group’s preliminary views of the electoral process in Ghana. We said there that overall the electoral process was credible and met the international standards to which Ghana had committed itself.

We commend the Electoral Commission and its staff who worked diligently with dedication and professionalism throughout the parliamentary election and the two rounds of the presidential election. We congratulate the people of Ghana for their commitment to the democratic process and for their calmness at times when tension threatened to disrupt the electoral process. We also commend the political parties and the leadership for putting the needs of the nation first at the time of the final declaration of presidential results.

While welcoming the many positives of elections, the Group was concerned about the increasingly contentious political environment in which they took place. The conduct of the media in fuelling suspicions was of particular concern.

As highlighted in our interim statement of 30 December 2008, with such a competitive election, the next President of Ghana will be required to unify the country and represent all citizens of Ghana. A strong democracy is one in which differences can be resolved through established institutions and systems in which the people have confidence and trust. That is what the people of Ghana wish to see.

We hope that the political leaders and people of Ghana will use their present opportunity to build an inclusive approach to politics which unites rather than divides, and which builds a sense of collective confidence in their leaders and the evolving democratic tradition being built by Ghana.

The Commonwealth will be with you, and we are sure that the Commonwealth Secretary-General will provide all the assistance and support that he can.

Accra, Ghana

4 January 2009

Information

The Commonwealth Observers for the run-off election were:

• Chair – Rt. Hon Baroness Valerie Amos, Former Leader of the House of Lords (United Kingdom)

• Mr. O.O. Akeredolu SAN, President, Nigerian Bar Association (Nigeria)

• Mr. Algassimu Sahid Jarr, Commissioner, National Electoral Commission (Sierra Leone)

• Ms Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Lecturer, University of the West Indies & Member of the Constitutional Reform Commission (St Lucia)

They were supported by a three-person staff team from the Commonwealth Secretariat, London

For the run-off election Commonwealth teams covered Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra, Western, and Eastern regions. The teams covered 147 polling stations in 21 constituencies in total.

The Commonwealth Observer Group co-operated closely with the African Union, Carter Centre, ECOWAS, l’Organisation International de la Francophonie, Pan African Parliamentary Group, and CODEO the domestic observer coalition, which also observed and assessed the election.

The Final Report by the Commonwealth Observer Group on the entire electoral process will be issued shortly and made available to stakeholders, Commonwealth Governments and on the website of the Secretariat: www.thecommonwealth.org

For media enquiries:

Julius Mucunguzi, Communications and Public Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat

Tel: (London): +44 207 747 6398 / +44 7894 593 517

Email: j.mucunguzi@commonwealth.int