As Ghanaians go to the polls on Friday to elect their President and Parliament members, the Head of ECOWAS Observation Mission for the election, former Nigeria’s President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has urged politicians and their followers to avoid bitterness and violence to ensure a peaceful, free and fair, transparent and credible elections.
“We are here as witnesses because Ghana matters to Ghanaians, Ghana is important to West Africa, Africa and the world at large,” Chief Obasanjo said on Ghana National Television on the eve of the election, which is being observed by a 250-strong ECOWAS Observer team.
Repeating the same theme on a programme on national radio, he urged the country’s politicians and their followers to trust established institutions – the judicial, electoral and security systems – and build on the blocks and reputation of peaceful elections in Ghana.
The head of mission, who has interacted with various stakeholder institutions, including political parties and personalities since his arrival on Monday, said his delegation “is reasonably satisfied,” with the level of preparation for Friday’s balloting.
There are 14.7 million biometric-registered voters, who will be electing the nation’s leader and members of the 275-seat Parliament.
As with most elections, Chief Obasanjo said the country might be going through “an election fever,” which is expected, but he expressed the hope that Ghanaians would live up to the country’s reputation.
ECOWAS observers have been deployed to the 10 administrative regions of Ghana to cover much of the 26,000 polling stations on polling day.
The regional Observation Mission will issue a Preliminary Declaration on Saturday on the conduct of the elections on Friday.
