Deadlines moved to ensure fair vote in Ghana

ACCRA, Nov 30 (AFP) - As Ghana's countdown to presidential and legislative elections entered its final week Thursday, the Electoral Commission moved two key deadlines to ensure a fair vote.

Voters were to have turned in their registration cards bearing thumbprints for new photograph identity cards by Thursday, but this deadline has been moved to Sunday, four days before the December 7 elections.

The issue of voter identification has prompted contradictory allegations.

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) insists that rural voters unable to reach trade-in centers would be disenfranchised, and should be allowed to vote using thumbprint IDs under strict controls.

Opposition parties allege that this procedure would invite multiple voting, and the Supreme Court is to rule on the matter on Monday.

Other concerns are over charges that under-age citizens had managed to register to vote, and that indelible ink brought in from India could be rendered ineffective with a prior application of grease.

The run-up to the vote, which will bring an end to 19 years of military and civilian rule by President Jerry Rawlings, has become increasingly fraught by concerns over the potential for irregularities.

The presidential race between Rawlings' protege, Vice President John Atta Mills, and John Kufuor, head of the opposition New Patriotic Party, the two front-runners in a field of seven, appears headed for an inconclusive result, setting the stage for a run-off by December 28.

At a question-and-answer session for journalists on Thursday, political analysts voiced concerns over the post-election period, especially if the race is tight.

Emmanuel Aning of the Institute of Economic Affairs pointed to recent controversial elections in Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Tanzania's Zanzibar, and "even in the father of all democracies, the United States."

He warned that outward signs that the elections in Ghana will proceed smoothly were not grounds for complacency. "I don't think we can take the status quo for granted," Aning said.

Afi Yakubu of the Foundation for Security Development in Africa, which organized the discussion, said the Accra-based group was currently focusing on west Africa, which has been especially prone to post-election conflict.

She said: "Only Senegal has managed to come out successfully from elections," referring to the orderly presidential victory of Abdoulaye Wade in March this year after decades of opposition to de facto one-party rule.