Penplusbytes

January, 2017

Ghana Elections 2016: The Game Changing Role of Tech and New Media Tools

ABSTRACT

Ghana passed yet another democratic test when it conducted what is widely described as a very

successful elections to choose a new President and 275 members of parliament during its 2016

General Elections. From the tech-based systems deployed by media houses that enabled their

collation and projections of results, through the Electoral Commission’s own challenges with same,

to how political parties tracked their numbers before the final and official declaration, a major

feature of Ghana’s 2016 poll was how technology took center stage of the entire democratic process

by almost every key stakeholder, citizens inclusive. This publication, discusses some of the ways

technology and New Media tools impacted Ghana's Elections 2016; reveals, also, how the seeming

success of the role of technology has not come without its own difficulties. This publication touches

on some key highlights of how various stakeholders leveraged technologies to deliver a free and fair

Ghana Elections 2016.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Introduction 1

Social Media Influence and Smarter Campaigns 2

Policing the Elections 3

Voter Education and the Electoral Process 3

Traditional Media meets New Media 6

Speed, Credibility and the Business of News 7

Conclusion 7

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1

Introduction

Ghana’s 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections has further bolstered the country’s

democratic credentials as a beacon on the political landmark of the African continent. The electoral

process and its attendant characteristics which saw the choice of a new President and 275

parliamentarians fell nothing short of intriguing considering the crucial role played by the adoption

of various technologies.

From the tech-based systems deployed by media houses that enabled their collation and projections

of results, through the Electoral Commission’s engagement with citizens via social media, to how

political parties tracked their numbers before the final and official declaration, and with thousands

of election observers using tech to observe and report happenings from all over Ghana; technology

took center stage of the entire democratic process by almost every key stakeholder, citizens

inclusive.

The seeming success of the role of technology did not come without its own difficulties and the

details of this took centre stage at the Technology Salon event hosted by Penplusbytes at the New

Media Hub on December 20, 2016; bringing together stakeholders such as the USAID, Meltwater

Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), Coalition of Democratic Elections Observers (CODEO),

Blogging Ghana, Multimedia Ghana Limited, MG Digital Group, Ashesi University and the US

Embassy in Ghana to discuss the extent to which technology changed the face of Ghana’s 2016

General elections including a discussion on challenges and successes.

The post elections discourse which also featured various elections stakeholder organisations who

were involved at different levels of the electoral process such as the Ghana Police Service who

played key roles as part of the National Elections Security Task Force, the Electoral Commission of

Ghana (EC), the media and Civil society, pointed to some of the ways technology significantly

changed the face of the race for the presidency and parliamentary seats over time. These

discussions among others formed the basis of this publication.

2

Social Media Influence and Smarter Campaigns

Few elections back, campaigns were markedly different. Political parties and their candidates before

now, relied on polls for the needed insights on whether or not their messages resonate well with

citizens and what they needed to change about their messages.

Social media has, however, altered the way candidates engage with citizens and constituents.

Candidates, during Ghana’s elections less than a decade ago, when both Facebook and Twitter had

barely started, did not interact directly with the public via social media, and there sure wasn’t as

many outlets for voters (citizens) to share and debate on political issues.

“Elections are not won on social media”. Really? Well, that had in previous seasons been the mantra

of opponents but at the start of 2016, it had long become obvious that parties and their candidates

who would commit a lot more to technology, were going to reach a significant number of potential

voters.

Today, social media gives candidates a direct line of communication with Ghanaians and this was

evidenced by the strategies of political parties, especially the then incumbent National Democratic

Congress (NDC) and opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), who invested a lot more time and other

resources to ensuring their candidates and campaign messages reached the ever growing numbers

of Ghanaians online. That was a positive change.

Social media remains an uncontrolled, democratic space which allows individuals to share and

spread opinions that may or may not necessarily be factual and can change the public’s view of a

candidate overnight. The “Kalyppo Challenge” (See: Akufo-Addo Kalyppo challenge: Strange Kalyppo

selfies hit social media - http://ow.ly/xqbp308pkZw) remains one such twists that stuck in favour of

the NPP.

3

Simply put, parties and their candidates that had little-to-no technology base and social media

presence appeared outdated and irrelevant to the electoral race.

One of the luxuries of the rise in big data and analytics is the opportunity it gave candidates in better

understanding of what was working for them and what wasn’t during their campaigns. It helped the

parties in becoming more effective in the design and dissemination of their messages which were

now more tailored to garner the votes, funds or public opinion.

Among the various political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) exhibited better understanding of

new technologies, connecting with voters to run a successful campaign. The party mastered social

media engagement during the 2016 campaign; deploying what the media, civil society, academia,

technologists and International organisations, described as an impressive tech mechanism that

allowed them to call almost accurately, the elections outcome in their favour. (See: Penplusbytes’

3RD GOVERNANCE SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX REPORT 2016 - http://ow.ly/WfQS308pofR). This goes

without saying that if a political party could master such sophistication, then perhaps Ghana’s

Electoral Commission can only do better with its own tech strategies going forward to avoid setbacks

like that which affected its electronic transmission systems.

Policing the Elections

Nowadays, social media has a place in practically everything. Could this explain what appeared to be

the dramatic U-turn from an earlier threat to shut down social media prior to and during the

elections by the Ghana Police Service? (See: Ghana Police Chief Criticized over Proposed Social Media

Ban - http://ow.ly/m1lX308pnW2) Probably so. The general source of concern for the security

service and other stakeholders was with how the ills of social media could be tamed to ensure the

tool was used responsibly by citizens and not to spread false news and other sensitive information

that would heighten tension and security concerns. Rather than an outright ban, the Police Service

took caution which eventually fed into a strategy on how to better use technology to police the

process successfully.

Quite apart from the more obvious benefits in enhancing engagements between candidates and

their followers (voters) with campaigns and sharing political views, the Ghana Police Service

remained one of the key state institutions that appeared to have not only found a new love in the

general application of social media tools but also partnered with organisations such as Penplusbytes

and Blogging Ghana’s “Ghana Decides project” to deploy an effective and efficient Social media

Tracking Centre that monitored online activities and issues around elections, picking up, in real time,

posts and comments that had security implications and alerted authorities for swift action to be

taken which helped in policing the entire electoral process.

Voter Education and the Electoral Process

Prior to the 2016 general elections, Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) found itself in a credibility

dogfight with some political parties, media and civil society groups over its perceived unfriendly

posture; a situation which became untenable after the special voting exercise on December 1, 2016.

The Commission also did very little to improve its already battered image from the barrage of

criticisms over its management of the elections in 2012 which had to be settled by Ghana’s Supreme

Court.

4

Having managed the situation to deliver yet another incident free elections, the Electoral

Commission describes the 2016 polls as one of the best organised in Ghana’s history and the fulcrum

of their claim includes the successful deployment of technology and new media tools for various

activities before, during and after the elections.

In terms of the general application of tech and social media in elections in Ghana, many key

stakeholders predicted what it described as “a brutal use of social media”. With the inevitable

staring them in the face, the Electoral Commission’s preparatory response was a decision to change

the narrative on their perceived lack of interest in new media tools to alter public views about its

work, commitment to be a transparent, free and fair elections. This, the Commission did by adopting

social media interactions as a key strategy.

Though challenged by the “incessant” hack attempts on its website and the malfunctioning of the

electronic transmission system, the EC leveraged on social media to deliver a very effective voter

education campaign with a well-received video education series on the voting and electoral

processes, sharing updates on its Twitter (@ECGhanaOfficial) and Facebook account with swift and

timely responses to queries coming from citizens and other stakeholders online.

Quite apart from the Electoral Commission, civil society groups and elections observer Missions –

local and international including Ghana’s Coalition of Local Observers (CODEO) and the National

Democratic Institute (NDI) also monitored the general conduct of the polls by engaging with citizens

through Twitter and other social media platforms.

5

Penplusbytes, as a civic tech organization, developed several platforms including a Social Media

Tracking Centre (SMTC) that supported a free and fair Ghana 2016 elections. The organisation fact-

checked political campaigns and collated data from social media and SMS reports to track election

irregularities, fraud and outbreaks of violence. These information, collected in real time, were shared

with the Electoral Commission and the National Elections Security Task Force through Embeds

stationed at the EC and the Ghana Police Service Headquarters tasked to manage the effective

correspondence between the organisation and their partners which yielded more rapid response.

Penplusbytes’ embeds at the Electoral Commission, for instance, formed the nucleus of the EC’s

social media management team whose work on Facebook and Twitter particularly received

widespread commendation.

Busy minds at work at the Social Media Tracking Centre

6

Traditional Media meets New Media

It is abundantly clear to candidates, political party activists and indeed, the independent Electoral

Commission that in the thick of campaigning, absolutely nothing is off limits. From candidates’

hidden past to activities of ‘innocent’ family members, the media’s lenses are always fixed on them.

The EC generated much interest on social media this past election than any other and comes as little

surprise that there was a commensurate leap in interest in the use of social media by all the major

stakeholders including the political parties, their candidates and followers, and the media.

Expectedly, the interest generated a fierce competition on virtual space which in turn birthed some

ingenuity and innovations on ways to cover the process all in their attempt to establish themselves

as the most credible go-to news sources of information for citizens serving the news in real time and

on-the-go.

Beyond trademark writing and posting styles as well as hashtag use, many media outlets, as part of

their strategies to court maximum interest and following, and to better engage their online audience

before, during and after the elections, adopted various Ghana elections themed account name

prefixes on social media especially on Twitter as further indication of what their topmost priority

issue within the period was. This phenomenon appeared to have contributed to a surge in the

general appeal in the number of followers of media/news entities on social media.

Joy FM’s Twitter account is prefixed by #ElectionHQ, Citi FM’s had #GhElections, Starrfm had

#EIBElectionHub and TV3 had #ElectionCommand. These accounts unsurprisingly were amongst the

best performing media entities on social media with the most up-to-date, interactive and best

followed as revealed in the findings presented in this report. See: 3rd Quarter Social Media Index

Report (http://penplusbytes.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3rd-Quarter-Social-Media-

Index-Report-October-2016.pdf)

Radio stations with online news portals also set up dedicated pages for the monitoring and tracking

of electoral results based on which some stations called the results of the elections up ahead of the

EC’s official announcement.

Joy FM is one of many radio stations which called the elections after an independent collation process

7

Speed, Credibility and the Business of News

Whiles the media’s close monitoring of the EC’s and candidate’s activities was commendable for

enhancing transparency of the electoral process, it did not come without its attendant challenges to

which efforts have to be made to minimize in future exercise.

The many positives notwithstanding, the seeming competition among media entities to be first at

the news and on social media saw a surge in sensationalism and this took a tow on the accuracy of

the kinds of information put out by the media in many instances.

Going forward, the media perhaps must place a lot more premium on their credibility in the eyes of

the consuming public rather than the urge to be first at putting out. The quality of media brands is

subject to the accuracy of the information put out and not the speed.

Forecasting on elections coverage in Ghana, there is enough indication from the experiences of the

last elections that media organisations could consider commercializing their coverage of Ghana

Elections 2020. Media houses could leverage the interest that Ghanaian elections court on multiple

platforms and start selling its election themed programmes. The challenge anticipated however is

with how media organisations can maintain fairness and credibility and not be subdued by the

pressures of sponsors to skew elections reportage.

Conclusion

There is enough evidence to conclude that there is absolutely no escaping from technology’s

influence on elections in Ghana.

Ghana may not necessarily be entertaining the possibilities of e-voting just yet but the successful

deployment of tech tools during the 2016 general elections by various stakeholders recorded varying

degrees of impact on various aspects of the exercise, creating a credible basis to further enhance

civic participation and the democratic credentials.

Many countries the world over have incorporated new technologies into elections – from voter

registration exercises to actual casting and counting of ballots although others carry on with the pen

and paper tradition.

Having experimented with technologies in certain aspects of the electoral process, perhaps it is time

for Ghana to explore other areas such as an option for online voter registration to boost electoral

participation among its more youthful and tech savvy citizens. This would also ensure a more

accurate voter register with less data-entry mistakes as compared to manual registrations with pen

and paper.

The Electoral Commission’s adoption of a mechanism to electronically transmit election results from

locations to the National Collation Centre is laudable as it is essential to enhancing transparency and

positively altering public perception of the Commission’s credibility.

As young a democracy that Ghana has, relatively, the country’s democratic stature ranks among the

best in Africa and the world, hence the need to safeguard these gains and build on it. This, from all

indications by elections stakeholders remain a priority.