The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has indicated its readiness to observe Tuesday’s (17 December 2019) district assembly elections and has called on voters to “obey the electoral laws of the country to support free, fair and credible election.”

The Coalition made this known during a press conference held in Accra on Monday, 16 December 2019.

CODEO, in a statement, said it “launched its activities aimed at supporting the 2019 district-level elections and the then-impending referendum to decide whether political parties should be allowed to sponsor candidates to district assemblies or lower local government units”, but “following an announcement by President Nana Akufo-Addo on 1 December 2019 which cancelled the referendum, the Electoral Commission (EC) notified the public of the cancellation of the referendum on 9 December 2019.”

It continued that it has carried out its two major interventions in support of the district-level elections, including the deployment of “260 District Civic/Voter/Peace Educators to promote public awareness in respect of the election”.

“The Civic/Voter/Peace Educators have been on the field for about six weeks, diligently educating citizens on the DLE and the need for every qualified Ghanaian to participate in the election of their local leaders. The Educators have been working closely with 260 District Directors of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with which CODEO has been collaborating to deepen public awareness about the elections.”

CODEO also expressed its profound gratitude to the “NCCE, particularly its Chair, Ms Josephine Nkrumah, for this great collaboration and for her dedicated support. Over the past six weeks, CODEO’s Civic/Voter/Peace Educators and District Directors of the NCCE have visited thousands of communities across Ghana engaging and sensitising members of the public about the need to take part in the up-coming elections.”

CODEO further commended the “efforts of these Educators with multi-media campaigns on traditional and social media” and reiterated that the Coalition’s “sole objective for these civic education activities is to promote public awareness of, understanding of and participation in these elections.”

It further indicated its readiness to observe the 17 December 2019 elections.

“Ladies and gentlemen, from the foregoing, I am pleased to announce that CODEO is ready to observe tomorrow’s district-level and unit committee elections. We will be bringing to you our traditional mid-day report and a close of polls report. CODEO calls on all eligible voters to go out tomorrow and vote to deepen local development and local governance. CODEO also urges all voters to vote for competent persons regardless of age, gender and disability”.

The Coalition also urged the voters to “also obey the electoral laws of the country to support free, fair and credible election.”