Official Campaigning Ends Today

Friday is the final day of official campaigning for Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. Big rallies are planned for both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Reporter Peter Clottey of Voice of America (VOA) in Accra said the political parties are scrambling to get their closing messages out to the voters.

"All the political parties are photo-finishing, sprinting to finish hard ahead of the election. They are putting all their resources into getting their messages out. You can see it both on TV and Internet as well as radio. And then you have people going from house to house explaining policies and trying to convince people at the last minute to vote for them," he said.

Clottey quoted the electoral commission as saying that it was ready for Sunday's elections.

"The Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has categorically stated that the electoral commission is all ready for Sunday's election. He claims that this is the fifth consecutive time that the electoral commission would be organizing free, fair, and credible elections. So once again he said that every other time that they organize elections is an improvement of the previous ones," Clottey said.

Some Ghanaians have been expressing concerns about election-related violence reminiscent of Kenya and Zimbabwe. Clottey said Ghana's security agencies are ready for any possible violence.

"The tension is not as high as it used to be in this election. People are eager and enthusiastic and ready to vote, and nobody is talking about violence. The security minister in collaboration with all the heads of the security agencies in Ghana recently met to map out strategies to ensure that the elections are free and fair. And all the presidential candidates in this Sunday's election have promised to abide by the rules and rubrics of the electoral commission," he said.

Clottey said the ruling New Patriotic Party and main opposition National Democratic Congress would planned to hold huge final campaign rallies Friday.

"You have the ruling New Patriotic Party that is holding its mammoth rally at the Accra Academy, a high school, to press home their last message. And then the main opposition National Democratic Congress initially scheduled its final rally a few kilometers from Accra, and people thought that it's too close to call. So they said for the sake of peace they will move it to Tema, the harbor city of Ghana," Clottey said.