EU EOM to deploy observers in Tain

Accra Dec. 31, GNA - The European Union Election Observation Mission Ghana is to deploy 26 observers to the Tain constituency in Brong-Ahafo Region to observe voting on January 2, 2009. This was contained in a statement issued in Accra by Mathias Eick, Press Officer, of the Mission.

The Tain constituency was the only one in which the elections could not take place on December 2008 due to technical problems encountered by the Electoral Commission (EC) in the distribution of ballot papers. The EC announced on December 30 that due to the closeness in the result of the second round of the Presidential Election Runoff, election would be held in the Tain constituency to determine the winner of the Runoff. The statement quoted Nickolay Mladenov, EU Chief Observer, as saying "It is now very important that Ghana's political leaders, the political parties and supporters exercised maximum restraint" and reiterated their confidence in the work of the Electoral Commission.

"Ghana has been an example of democratic elections in the past 15 years. Now the people of Ghana have an opportunity to prove their political maturity and democratic credential by ensuring that the election on January 2, 2009 is carried out with the same degree of transparency and openness as the previous elections." The statement said the EU EOM would also be observing the auditing exercise of certain results as announced by the EC. It said within two months of the conclusion of the electoral process, the Chief Observers would return to Ghana to present a detailed report on the election and make recommendations to the EC.