Accra - This preliminary statement is offered by the international observer delegation fielded by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to Ghana’s December 7, 2016, presidential and legislative elections. The 30-person delegation with members from 14 countries was co-led by: Johnnie Carson, senior advisor to the president of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), member of the NDI board of directors, and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Yvonne Mokgoro, board chair of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Pat Merloe, senior associate and director of electoral programs at NDI; and Christopher Fomunyoh, senior associate for Africa and regional director at NDI. Through this delegation, NDI seeks to: demonstrate the international community’s interest in and support for credible and peaceful elections in Ghana; provide an accurate and impartial report on the election process to date; and offer recommendations to improve future electoral processes.