The ongoing biometric registration which started on 24th March, 2012 opens today's review as Phase 2 of Biometric registration starts. Phase two of the ongoing biometric voters' registration begins tomorrow with 30 more days left. The Daily Dispatch adds that what had happened over first 10-days period which ended yesterday, explains that many people flocking to various centers means all those four polling stations that were put in a cluster will record usually high voters per polling station.
In this regard, Ghanaians have been urged to register to empower them to vote. The Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Sunday called on Ghanaians irrespective of their political inclination to participate in the on-going biometric registration exercise to enable them to vote in the December polls and subsequent elections. ''All you ought to know is that registration is the entry-point to all political elections and I urge you all to register, and to empower you to exercise your democratic rights in the coming elections and beyond'', The Chronicle reports.
The Daily Graphic reports likewise in the headline Veep registers at Bole. The Vice-President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, has urged all eligible Ghanaians to register in the on-going biometric voters registration exercise to enable them to vote in the December 7, 2012 election and subsequent ones. He made the call when he registered at Bole in the Northern Region, where he was the Member of Parliament before he assumed his current position.
With cases of foreigners attempting to register in the ongoing registration process, Ghanaians have been cautioned against arresting suspected aliens at registration centers. The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander Robert Ayalingo has warned that any civilian who would arrest a person suspected to be non-Ghanaian at a polling centre and send him or her to the police station would rather be detained and charged with interfering in the electoral process. According to the Ghanaian Times, he stated in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani that any person who would suspect another person of being a non-Ghanaian should only fill a challenge form and leave the matter with the electoral officials.
The ongoing biometric registration exercise at Agya Bekwai center in the Tafo /Pankrono constituency in the Ashanti Region was brought to a halt for several hours when the Electoral Commission (EC) registration officers were heckled by thugs allegedly deployed to the center by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). In the headline Thugs Attack EC Officers, the Daily Guide indicates that the Thugs numbering nine , stormed the center on unregistered motorbikes demanded the kits the registration officers were using for the exercise, a demand the officers refused to obliged.
Contrary to the violent situation the Daily Graphic reports that Biometric Registration in Upper West smooth. The Upper West Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC),Mr Eric Dakurah, has described the ongoing biometric registration exercise in the region as generally smooth. He said but for a few challenges which were quickly resolved, the exercise could have been said to be excellent.
We end the day's review with news on Political leaders cautioned against inciting followers. A visiting Senior Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA ) Brigadier General Francis Agyemfra has cautioned leaders of political parties against inciting their supporters to engage in acts that can negatively affect Election 2012. The Ghanaian Times adds that according to Brigadier Ayemfrah the upcoming presidential and parliamentary polls would be a real test for democracy in Ghana.
This daily news review is compiled by African Elections Project (AEP) Media Monitoring Centre, Accra, Ghana.
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