Mahama has every right to reject results of flawed elections – Prof Gyampo defends

Associate Professor and Political Science Lecturer at the University Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has backed concerns raised by former President John Dramani Mahama that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) will reject the results of the 2020 elections if flawed.

The results of a flawed elections, according to Prof Gyampo must not only be rejected by the NDC but by President Akufo-Addo and all major contenders in the December 7 polls.

His comments come on the back of a position taken by the former President that, “Let no one think that the NDC will accept the outcome of a flawed election…Let nobody attempt to disenfranchise any of our citizens on the basis of ethnicity,” while addressing members of the party at a flag raising ceremony to mark the National Democratic Congress’ 28th Anniversary.

Many have described the former President’s position as premature. But reacting to John Mahama’s comments, Prof Gyampo insisted that the former President has every right to reject the results of a flawed election.

“The man is saying that if the results are flawed we will not accept it and I’m saying that flawed electoral results are unacceptable all over the world and so it is not a big deal for any contender in an election to say that if the results are flawed I’m not accepting it. The leader of the opposition party is saying this and I’m thinking the leader of the ruling party must also be saying same. If the results are flawed, they should be unacceptable to both parties or to all major contenders in the election.”

Adding,”Being peace loving and being democratic in my view is not licentious for the acceptance of the results of elections that can reasonably be described as flawed. Indeed flawed elections in every democracy all over the world are not acceptable and so what John Mahama has said in my view is nothing that must warrant protracted debate or comments or discussions”

Citing the 2012 election petition, Prof Gyampo argued that rejecting the results of any election is largely dependent on the conditions before, during and after the election in question.

According to him, once any contender has a reason to believe that those conditions are flawed, there will not be general acceptance for the election conducted.

“You would agree with me, you recall that in 2013 the election petition at the supreme court exposed monumental flaws in our electoral processes that could not be glossed over by any well-meaning or discerning person and that was the reason why the results of the 2012 election was not accepted and it was ushered into an 8 month period of election petition.

“There are conditions that must exist before, during and after every election to make the results acceptable and generally and these conditions require that the processes must be generally flawless. Of course we are a developing democracy and so there may be hitches with the processes but the hitches must not be too monumental level in a way that will undermine popular acceptance of the results and so once the flaws are minimal then the acceptance of the results will be easy otherwise it will be in the rights of any political party leader to say that I’m not accepting the results of any flawed election,” he indicated.

Prof Gyampo further explained, “What one decides to do if he refuses to accept the monumentally flawed election results is what we must be thinking about.Is the person going to court? If he decides to go to court then so be it, this wouldn’t be the first time. Is the person going to hit the streets to cause mayhem, to make the place ungovernable? These are the things we would have to be interrogating.”