The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has announced the deployment of 100 Long-Term Observers (LTOs) across the 16 regions of the country. 

According to CODEO, the LTOs will be observing the pre-election environment from October 1, 2024, to December 4, 2024, in the lead-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7, 2024. 

This was contained in a press statement signed and issued by the National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Kofi Arhin on Wednesday, October 2.

The statement said the observers will monitor constituency-level pre-election activities of key election stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the National Peace Council (NPC), security agencies, political parties, traditional and religious leaders, civil society/community-based organizations (CSOs/CBOs), and the media. 

“The CODEO long-term observers will also be on the lookout for incidents such as intimidation and harassment of political opponents and citizens, violence, vote buying, destruction and removal of party paraphernalia, use of abusive and inflammatory language or hate speech at party rallies, human right abuses, destruction of public property, violation of election procedures, chiefs engaging in partisan politics, abuse of incumbency, among other things,” part of the statement read.

CODEO noted that before the deployment, the LTOs participated in a two-day training workshop, conducted simultaneously in Koforidua, Eastern Region, for the southern sector, and Kumasi, Ashanti Region, for the northern sector of the country. 

It further said it will keep the public and all stakeholders informed of findings from its pre-election observation through bi-weekly press releases, which will be based on weekly observation reports submitted by the LTOs. 

“CODEO takes this opportunity to urge all electoral stakeholders to uphold democratic values in the lead-up to the December 7 elections. Political parties are encouraged to conduct their campaigns responsibly, avoiding language or actions that could incite violence or ethnic divisions. 

“Political leaders should promote peaceful discourse, respect for the rule of law, and focus on issue-based campaigns,” CODEO said.

Additionally, they called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to enhance transparency in the electoral process by ensuring the timely dissemination of accurate information on all election-related activities.