Election Update

The election went off here without many issues. The majority party seems to have lost far more seats in Parliament than anyone expected, so that is causing claims of voting irregularities in some parts of the country. And 2.4% of ballots cast were declared invalid for one reason or another. After dipping the left pinkie in indelible ink to prevent duplicate voting, constituents voted by placing a thumbprint next to the candidate of choice on the ballot (see sample from 1996 at left). It seems, one of the main reasons for invalid ballots is the use of the wrong finger! Many people used the finger that already had ink on it. And some claims are made that the illiterate and elderly in certain candidates' strongholds were being told the wrong finger by "mischief makers". So, you talk about your hanging chads - 2.4% could decide an entire election!
In addition, some constituencies seemed to have more votes cast than there were registered voters in the constituency. Hmm... minor details. At any rate, these issues did not appear to be wide-spread and were, of course, blown up for maximum effect by the parties. The general opinion of the world seems to be that the elections were, in fact, free and fair. I stayed at a guesthouse in Accra on Tuesday and Wednesday evening that was across from the German Embassy. There were a number of EU electoral observers also staying there (from Germany, The Netherlands, and the Czech Republic) and their response was quite positive. Most candidates are accepting their fates with professionalism. It seems clear that if the candidates don't foment violence through claims of rigging, stealing, intimidating or other voter fraud, then the populace will maintain its cool as well.

My only first hand experience was this: When Tim went to vote, his name was not on the registrar's list. Now, he is an NDC (opposition - "we are changing") supporter, so one could think there was some intentional funny business, but his wife claims it's his own fault because when they opened the registers about a month ago, and all the people who had registered before were allowed to go and confirm their names were on the list, he didn't go. He and I maintained that if you were registered before (he voted in 2004) your name should not be removed from the rolls. His wife, however, says they were trying to clean up the rolls to prevent fraud and that, based on his age, since he didn't confirm, they may have thought he was dead (he's 56!?). So, you see, the process is not quite beyond it's infancy.

In any case, the various MP races (Member of Parliament) have been resolved for the most part, but the Presidency requires a majority (50% + 1 vote). Neither of the two major parties received a majority, so now they will have a run-off on 28 Dec. This is supposed to ensure that the minority parties have some ability to cast the deciding vote between the two front runners.

So, the campaigning has started up again. Here is a video of a little parade by the NPP party ("we are moving forward") that went by in front of the office at 7:00AM. If you look closely, you

might see some people doing the NPP dance/hand sign - sort of like "walk like an Egyptian", but both hands pointed forward. The NDC's dance/hand sign is more like Saturday Night Fever finger twirling (without the pointing or the strut) - or the motion you make when you want someone to get on with it - as I will do now.
XO