EC must adopt real-time technology for instant election result declaration – Kwabena Bomfeh – Nsemkeka
The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Citizenship, Constitutional and Electoral Systems (CenCES), James Kwabena Bomfeh, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to adopt advanced technology that will enable the instant declaration of election results.
His appeal comes amid ongoing delays over the parliamentary election outcome in Ablekuma North in the Greater Accra Region.
Speaking on JoyNews, Mr Bomfeh emphasised the urgent need for the EC to implement systems that allow for automatic and technological declaration of results.
He recalled that this was a proposal he helped develop as part of the Electoral Reform Committee established by Dr Afari Djan, the first Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
He explained that the committee recommended a robust digital framework where election results are entered and transmitted immediately from polling centres to ensure both transparency and speed in the process.
According to Mr. Bomfeh, once votes have been counted at a polling centre, the results should be entered into a system, either biometric or technological, that instantly transmits the data first to the constituency collation centre and then to the national collation centre.
To illustrate how this would work in practice, he cited Kintampo North, where he previously contested.
“There were about 133 polling centres in Kintampo North. Once the results from each centre are declared, they should be transmitted simultaneously; one to the constituency collation centre and another directly to the national collation centre.”
With 276 constituencies nationwide, such a system would provide live updates from every polling centre, significantly improving transparency and speeding up the entire electoral process.
Mr Bomfeh added, “While the constituency is tallying, we could already see in real time that Candidate A got this number of votes, likewise Candidate B. So, by the end of the tally, before verifying signatures and other formalities, we are already aware of the results.
He stressed that adopting this technology would drastically reduce delays, enhance transparency, and prevent manipulation of election results.
“If we implement this system, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to tamper with the results,” he concluded.