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This year's election will be better than 2012 - EC

The EC boss made this known during an encounter with the media in Accra on Thursday November 10, 2016.

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She said this can only be achieved if all the stakeholders involved in the electoral process, particularly the media, put the nation first in all their activities.

She said: “This year’s elections will even be more transparent, and even more credible and be accepted by all than the 2012 elections. And we keep making sure that every election sees improvement beyond the last elections.”

“...As you are all aware, we are just days away from probably the most important event in our nation’s calendar this year – the presidential and parliamentary elections. This is the time when we as a people get to decide who leads the country and who represents us in parliament. This is a very critical decision, and to do that as the institution that is mandated to organise the elections, it is impossible for us to do our work effectively without the media,” she said.

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“…Can we have successful elections without the media? No. So the same way that the Electoral Commission has a responsibility, so does the media. To have a peaceful election, we need an Electoral Commission that is strong, that is independent, and that is subject only to the laws of Ghana, whether as passed by the legislature or as pronounced by the Judiciary,” Mrs Osei added.

She said the country needs a media that is “ just as strong, just as independent as the Electoral Commission and a media that is subject only to the national interest and not personal or parties’ interests.

“We need civil society support; we need a mutual, balanced civil society to make sure that the process is successful and not to promote the views of any one side of the electoral process,” she added.

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The Electoral Commission under the leadership of Charlotte Osei has been dragged to court over twelve times.

Some Ghanaians believe that the many law suits will make the EC lose focus for the December 7 polls, and have therefore advocated for dialogue among the aggrieved parties.

But the EC had recently stated that it is happy that aggrieved persons and political parties have resorted to the law courts to resolve any grievances instead of hitting on the streets.

She said the court actions are in the right direction because the rule of law must be respected.

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