Court Ruling May Delay Polls

Ghanaians go to the polls on Thursday to elect a new president and a 200-member legislature but whether the polls will take place as scheduled or not depends on a Supreme Court decision today.

Philip Kwaku Apaloo, a voter believed to be sponsored by President Jerry John Rawlings' ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), has filed a writ at the Ghanaian Supreme Court, asking for an injunction on the conduct of the elections until the determination of a case he has brought against the Electoral Commission.

Apaloo is challenging the decision of the commission that only identity documents with photographs may be used in next Thursday's elections.

Consequently electoral commissioner Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has postponed a special voting session scheduled for today. The special session, meant for public servants whose duties on election day may prevent them from voting, would have kickstarted the elections.

Both photo IDs and those with only the thumbprints of the bearer were used in the 1996 election because the government could not afford photo IDs for all voters. The commission therefore decided that voters in urban areas should be issued with photo IDs while those in the rural areas used thumb-printed IDs. This year, however, funds were secured to provide all voters with photo IDs.

All seven parties contesting the elections had previously agreed to the exclusive use of photo IDs in this year's elections, but in recent weeks the ruling NDC has threatened to go to court if voters with thumbprinted IDs are not allowed to vote. The NDC's explanation was that the commission's decision will disenfranchise some voters.

The suit to postpone the elections is based on the argument that the Ghanaian constitution entitles any sound-minded citizen over 18 years of age to register for and vote in elections.

Two weeks ago, the commission said that 75% of thumbprinted IDs had been replaced with photo IDs and expressed the hope that the situation would improve by the time the exercise ended yesterday.

The concern of many people is that the voters' register is bloated by 1,5- million names, according to the commission. These names, which are not supposed to be there, could be used by impersonators, minors and in some cases foreigners.

Therefore, the only way to reduce the potential for fraud and impersonation is the use of the photo IDs.

The New Patriotic Party, the biggest opposition party in Ghana, says it will resist any attempt to allow people without the photo IDs to vote.

This year's elections are crucial for Ghana's democratic process because it will be the first time a democratically elected government will be changed after an election. Ghana has experienced five military coups since independence from the UK 43 year ago, two of which were led by Rawlings, who has ruled the country for almost twenty years.

His two terms in office, totalling eight years as civilian leader expires on January 6.