The Electoral Commission (EC) has mandated the Returning Officer to announce results of Election for a Constituency after first summing-up the total number of votes cast for each candidate at all polling stations in the constituency.

Outlining measures for the collation of results at the Constituency Collation Centre, the EC in its Election 2020 Guide to Voters manual available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra mandate the Returning Officer to count all votes cast including votes cast on special voting day.

Mr Kwame Amoah, EC Greater Accra Regional Director told the GNA that Returning Officers were the sole authority to declare the winner for the Parliamentary Election at the end of every collation in the constituency at the Constituency Collation Centre.

The Returning Officer is also under obligation to announce the collated provisional results in respect of the Presidential Election at the Collation Centre and forward same to the Commission.

After the announcement, the Returning Officer will endorse the results of the election on the Writ of Election (forms 1A and 1B) and forward it to the District Officer.

In addition, a copy of the Constituency Summary Result Sheets (Forms 1D and 10) duly endorsed by the Returning Officer and Collation Agents should be sent to the District Electoral Officer and a copy posted in a conspicuous place at the Constituency Collation Centre.

The EC also stressed that before the Regional Collation Officer publically announces the Presidential Election Results for the region, he or she must first collate the constituency results by adding the total number of votes cast for each candidate as seen on the Presidential Election Results Summary Sheet (Form 10) for all the various constituencies in the region.

After the announcement, the RCO will send a copy of the Presidential Results Summary Sheet (Form 12) to the Chairperson of the Commission, while a copy is posted at the Regional Office of the Commission.