About the 2008 Election

Ghana’s December 2008 presidential and Parliamentary elections will be the fifth elections since the return to multiparty democracy in 1992.  The four successive elections conducted under Ghana’s forth republic has been touted as progressively free, fair and transparent. Ghana’s elections 2008 present another opportunity to advance Ghana’s democratic and electoral process.

The December 7 polls will be conducted in over 21,000 polling stations in the 230 constituencies in Ghana. The 2008 presidential elections are being contested by eight presidential candidates of which seven aspirants are representing political parties and one is an independent candidate.

The political parties contesting this year’s elections are as follows:  Convention People’s Party (CPP), Democratic Freedom Party (DFP); Democratic People’s Party (DPP); National Democratic Congress (NDC); New Patriotic Party (NPP); People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Reform Patriotic Democrats (RPD).  The 230 Parliamentary seats will also be contested by the political parties as well as independent candidates.

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observer (CODEO) is dedicated to observing Ghana’s domestic elections and promoting free, fair and transparent elections. CODEO has observed the pre-elections environment of Ghana’s elections 2008 and will be observing the December polls as well as the post-elections environment. CODEO’s reports on these elections have served as reference points on the Ghana’s electoral processes and have set the agenda for electoral reforms.

Parallel Vote Tabulation

This year CODEO, in addition to its general elections observation, will introduce a new input to domestic elections observation called Parallel Vote Tabulation on December 7th.  Parallel Vote Tabulation will seek to evaluate, in a quick manner, the quality of the elections procedures and ascertain presidential electoral results declared by the Electoral Commission of Ghana.

The Parallel Vote Tabulation helps determine the legitimacy of Ghana’s elections 2008.  This methodology is routinely used around the world by domestic observer groups to promote electoral integrity. By independently adding together the vote counts from the representative random sample of polling stations and comparing this figure with the official results, it is possible to verify the accuracy of the tabulation process and the official results.

How will CODEO conduct the Parallel Vote Tabulation?

CODEO has trained and will deploy 4000 observers to observe the December 2008 polls as part of a scientific and effective approach of observing the December polls. This will enable CODEO to receive and promptly analyze the information about the Election Day process.  As part of its program to support genuine and peaceful elections, CODEO will undertake an observation technique called Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) for the 2008 Presidential Election.  PVT is an advanced election observation method that enables observers to provide the public and political contestants with more accurate and detailed information about the conduct of an election and accuracy of official results.

PVT involves recruiting non-partisan observers, providing them with the requisite training and, after they have been accredited by the Electoral Commission, deploying them to a representative random sample of polling stations on Election Day to observe the polls from opening, through voting to counting.

The CODEO PVT will involve a nationally representative sample of 1,000 polling stations located in every region and constituency of the country and representing over 500,000 voters in those polling stations.  The PVT observers deployed to these polling stations will record information about the conduct of the opening of the polls, voting, and counting as well as the official vote count. This will capture how people actually voted after the polls have closed. This information will be rapidly transmitted to an observation center in Accra via text messaging to be tabulated and analyzed.

There are two main benefits to be gained by employing the PVT methodology.  First, it enables observers to provide more accurate information on the voting and counting process. Second, it will enable CODEO to provide scientifically accurate information on the total for the presidential election in order to verify the official result.  As with all of CODEO’s election-related activities, the PVT is intended to enhance public confidence in the process and promote a peaceful election.

The PVT methodology has been used around the world by domestic observer groups to promote electoral integrity.