Must-win posture threat to Ghana polls – Commission

The Chairperson of Ghana Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, has said the must-win posture of the two dominant parties in the country was a potential threat to a peaceful ballot in December.
Speaking at a colloquium on peaceful elections in Accra yesterday, Osei cautioned Ghanaians against complacency on account of the country’s strong democratic culture and past records, warning that the political terrain was getting volatile.
“In Ghana, the history of six successful elections in the past 24 years should not become the basis for complacency because we seem to have an increasingly volatile political culture. Among the 25 registered political parties that we have in Ghana, we have two strong ones that seem to dominate our political landscape.
“We are going into elections where one party believes it must win and the other believes it cannot lose. However, it’s a contest where there is going to be one winner and many losers. So in spite of all the preparations and the experience we have, this election is beginning to look like a volatile event, if we do not manage the process better,” she warned.
Osei further identified other factors like the proliferation of arms, rising levels of alcoholism and drug abuse and high unemployment among the youth as dangerous to the political process.
She referred to research carried out by the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre, the Narcotics Control Board and the Electoral Commission that indicated that rising unemployment among the youth posed a great risk to peaceful election in the country.