Basic information on the elections

Ghanaians go to the polls on 7 December to elect their president and 200 members of parliament who will serve four-year terms. This will be the third election since the return to civil rule in 1993. Polling stations will operate from 0700 to 1700 gmt. The seven political parties registered to contest the polls are the: Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); New Patriotic Party (NPP); United Ghana Movement (UGM); National Democratic Congress (NDC); Peoples’ National Convention (PNC); National Reform Party (NRP); Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP). The candidates for the presidential election are: Party Presidential Candidate Running mate CPP George Hagan Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama GCPP Dan Lartey Ewart Ladzagla NDC John Evans Atta-Mills Martin Amidu NPP John Agyekum Kufuor Alhaji Aliu Mohammed NRP Augustus Gossie Tanoh Joseph Cletus Korsiba PNC Edward Mahama Bannerman Baah Ntim UGM Charles Wereko-Brobby Larry Addotey Addo The Election Commission: The commission is made up of seven commissioners - a chairman, two deputy chairmen and four other members. All are appointed by the president of the republic on the advice of the Council of State. The three chairmen have permanent tenure of office and the same conditions of service as judges of the superior court. The seven members of the commission collectively constitute the policy-making and management body of the organization, and exercise general supervision over the activities of the election staff. The commission is required to meet at least once every two months. On a day-to-day basis the three chairmen represent the commission. The body has over 1,000 external employees contracted to conduct the elections. The electoral commission has registered offices and district officers throughout the country. They provide logistics for the elections in the areas under their jurisdiction. Presiding Officers: Voting takes place in various polling stations. The person in charge of each station is the presiding officer. This officer has overall responsibility for the conduct of the election at a particular polling station and is supported by polling assistants. Security: Each polling station has a security officer who may be a police officer or a member of any of the other security services. Their responsibility is to keep order and arrest anyone who commits an offence at the polling station. Returning Officers: There are three returning officers based at each constituency centre. They receive voting results from polling stations, collate them and declare the results at the constituency level. They then transmit the results to the Electoral Commission in Accra.