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The Electoral Commission (EC) has warned media houses to desist from declaring the results of the December 7 polls or risk being arrested and prosecuted for the offence.
The commission said the media might call or project the trend of the December 7 polls but could not declare the results, insisting that only the EC reserved the right under the law to declare the results of the election.
"The media can call or project, but it’s the EC that declares. Anybody who declares election results other than the EC can be arrested and prosecuted," the Director of Training at the EC, Dr Serebuor Quaicoe, cautioned in an interview with Graphic Online's Charles Benoni Okine.
The EC’s threat followed the growing misinterpretation among media personnel regarding which body is legally mandated to declare the presidential results.
It was also to address the confusion over what constituted a call, projection and declaration of election results.
Dr Quaicoe said it behoved the media to stay within its remit as far as the elections were concerned and allow the EC to do what it had been mandated under the law to do to avoid any confusion.
A political expert also agreed with the position of the EC and urged circumspection on the part of the media to avoid creating problems in the country.
A Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Professor Alidu Seidu, said while the media had the right to project and call elections, it was the sole responsibility of the EC Chairperson, who was the Returning Officer under the law, to declare the results, particularly the presidential results.
He said it would be suicidal for any media house or person to do that ahead of the declaration and asked those planning to do so to desist from the practice.
“Even regarding the call or projections, media houses must be extremely careful and ensure that they have what it takes to gather the required information before they make a move to project or call based on what they have.
“The media has to demonstrate patriotism and eschew all political biases to do what is legally right and not to cause unnecessary tension by doing what can degenerate into something which can be uncontrollable,” he added.
Prof. Seidu advised media houses to engage professionals to help them with their analysis of the trends as the results are announced from the various constituencies and not jump to conclusions.
Prof. Seidu said many politically exposed actors in the country were known media owners and, therefore, there might be the temptation to use their platforms to announce results in favour of their party.
That, he said, would be risky and, therefore, advised against such intentions because “it will not be in the interest of the peace that we all seek in these elections”.
Regarding the parliamentary results, Prof. Seidu said those outcomes were known right at the polling stations.
“But even with that, the media must wait on the EC official to declare the winner before they report.
“The media must not be in a haste and get it wrong because a little spark can cause a lot of problems,” he advised, adding that where the media even got the results from various sources, they must ensure that what they had were certified by the EC officials present.
Prof. Seidu said at a time when there was a lot of misinformation and disinformation from different sources, it was the responsibility of the media to ensure that they contributed to safeguarding the peace the country was enjoying by using their platforms to dispel rumours.
