EC must design security against social media and fake news

General News of Monday, January 28, 2019

Source: 3news.com

2019-01-28

The Ghana Electoral Commission (EC) has stressed the need for Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) to put in place security measures to ensure that elections are free and fair.

The need to implement security measures against the use of social media and false information for malicious purposes for electoral purposes, said Jean Adukwei Mensah, President of the European Commission, in Accra.

Speaking at the 17th International Symposium on Electoral Matters held in Accra on Monday, Ms. Mensa described the security of the elections.

"We will also discuss the issue of security around our electoral processes, we will consider how to enhance security from the registration process to the declaration of results," she said.

"In the era of social media and misinformation, what security systems can we put in place to counteract the activities of mischief makers and alarmists?" She asked.

She also noted that because of the costly nature of the elections in Ghana, the country generally needed the support of its development partners, which it did not guarantee.

Thus, Ms. Mensa said that the new direction of the Commission has priority to ensure the optimization of resources in all that is done, because it will not want to be badociated with the holding of expensive elections. She regretted that the previous elections were expensive.

The 2016 general election cost $ 12 per elector – the patron of the EC The symposium is organized by the International Parliamentary Studies Center (ICPS), in the UK, in collaboration with the Ghana Electoral Commission and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) under the theme "Building Innovative Strategies for Better Global Electoral Systems".

More than 100 participants from 50 countries around the world are present to share innovative ideas and strategies that they can put into practice in their respective countries and regions.