{
  "id": 9499346,
  "title": "Let elections become instruments of peace, not conflict – Peace Council",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/let-elections-become-instruments-of-peace-not-conflict-peace-council",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-24T04:43:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/let-elections-become-instruments-of-peace-not-conflict-peace-council/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, the National Peace Council's Chairman, urged African nations to harness elections as means of fostering peace, unity, and growth instead of fueling discord and division. He emphasized that electoral integrity should extend beyond mere voting on election day, encompassing voter registration, campaign financing, civic education, media interaction, vote counting, and peaceful dispute resolution. The Bishop made this call during the opening of the Third Electoral Integrity Summit, organized by the African Election Observers Network (AfEONet), in collaboration with Ghana's Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and West Africa Election Observers Network (WAEON). The two-day summit, themed \"Money, Technology and Civic Rights: Defending Electoral Integrity in Africa,\" gathered election observers, civil society organizations, and democracy experts from across the continent to address emerging threats to electoral integrity and brainstorm practical solutions.\n\nDespite Africa's significant strides in democracy over the past three decades, Bishop Fianu noted that electoral violence, misinformation, disinformation, political intolerance, incumbency abuse, illicit campaign financing, and waning public trust still jeopardize democratic consolidation. He expressed serious concern over the growing commercialization of politics and called for stricter regulations on campaign financing. Bishop Fianu warned that unregulated campaign financing could lead to unequal political opportunities, erode accountability, and foster vote-buying, patronage politics, and corruption, stating, \"Democracy should never become an ocean where leadership is purchased by the highest bidder.\"\n\nHe also called for enhanced collaboration among electoral management bodies, political parties, civil society organizations, the media, security agencies, traditional authorities, religious bodies, election observers, technology companies, and citizens to safeguard electoral integrity. Acknowledging technology's role in civic education, voter awareness, and election observation, Bishop Fianu cautioned that misinformation, disinformation, cyber interference, AI-generated content, and hate speech could erode public confidence in elections and deepen political and social divisions. He urged governments to balance protecting legitimate civic expression with encouraging responsible digital citizenship among technology companies, media institutions, and civil society organizations.\n\nProfessor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, CDD-Ghana's Executive Director, cautioned against complacency, given Ghana's electoral success and peaceful transitions, as every election revealed new vulnerabilities requiring persistent vigilance. He identified political financing as a major challenge, citing the rising costs of political competition and the lack of transparency in campaign financing as threats to electoral integrity. Prof. Prempeh emphasized that money in politics had become a significant issue, not only in Ghana but throughout the continent. He highlighted technology's potential to undermine electoral processes through AI-generated disinformation, deepfakes, and coordinated information manipulation. Prof. Prempeh stressed the need for protecting civic space, arguing that free media, independent civil society organizations, and citizen observers were crucial to exposing financial and technological manipulation during elections and enhancing electoral integrity.",
  "summary": "Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, the Chairman of the National Peace Council, has called for concerted efforts to ensure that elections across Africa become instruments of peace, unity and development rather than sources of conflict and division.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}