Voting in Monday’s elections has been praised as the most successful compared to previous ones since 1992

Another feature of that success was that there were no queues at most of the polling stations at 5p.m., the time did not allow anyone to come in to join the queue, if any, or come in to vote because by law 5p.m. marks the end of voting.

However, those in the queue can continue voting until each of them has exercised their franchise.

So far, independent observer teams or missions like the Coalition of Domestic Elections Observers (CODEO) and the EU Observation Mission have acquitted this year’s elections as free, fair and transparent.

They have made such conclusions, albeit, acknowledging the various isolated incidents such as shootings.

The Ghanaian Times believes that elections can be successful largely because the contestants, being the political parties, and other stakeholders have played their roles as expected.

On this score, we want to commend the parties for being responsible in the electoral process from whatever point marks its beginning till the president-elect will be inaugurated on January 7, 2021.

This means all the stakeholders have built consensus, having made some sacrifices.

However, certain acts have happened that have the tendency to subtract from the beauty of our democracy.

One of those things is the two main political parties, New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress claiming to have won the presidency, yet the law does not permit such act.

The truth is that every citizen and all relevant bodies or institutions have roles to play to ensure successful elections.

An important point is that while citizens and institutions have such roles or responsibilities, it is only the Electoral Commission (EC) that has the right or power to announce election results in the country.

This means any other person, political party or entity that announces the results ahead of the EC flouts the law in which case the matter lies in the remit of the law-enforcement agencies.

What the Ghanaian Times is worried about is that announcing the result ahead of the EC and the counter-announcements or inciting from inflammable pronouncements cause apprehension among the citizenry.

Once this happens, life goes on a low ebb as fear and panic sets in. Elsewhere, such conduct has caused mayhem that has resulted in loss of lives and property. It has also created refugees among societies whose members would have loved to live as one people pursuing their individual and societal needs and aspirations.

If we have made sacrifices over the years to maintain peace in the Ghanaian society, we must not do anything to lose our global respect as a peaceful nation in a turbulent sub-region.

In fact, we should awake from any slumber and uphold our rights and responsibilities, not forgetting where our rights end, so that our dear country, Ghana, would continue to shine its democratic light on the rest of the West African sub-region while we remain the democratic toast globally.